William Cowper - The Task (1785)

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With spots quadrangular of diamond form,
Ensanguined hearts, clubs typical of strife,
And spades, the emblems of untimely graves.

William Cowper
O Winter! ruler of the inverted year,... I crown thee king of intimate delights, Fireside enjoyments, home-born happiness, And all the comforts that the lowly roof Of undisturbed Retirement, and the hours Of long uninterrupted evening, know.

William Cowper
Dream after dream ensues;
And still they dream that they shall still succeed;
And still are disappointed.

William Cowper
Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs
Receive our air, that moment they are free!
They touch our country, and their shackles fall.

William Cowper
The nurse sleeps sweetly, hired to watch the sick,
Whom, snoring, she disturbs.

William Cowper
As dreadful as the Manichean god,
Adored through fear, strong only to destroy.

William Cowper
Detested sport
That owes its pleasures to another's pain;
That feeds upon the sobs and dying shrieks
Of harmless nature.

William Cowper
So manifold, all pleasing in their kind,
All healthful, are the employs of rural life,
Reiterated as the wheel of time,
Runs round; still ending, and beginning still.

William Cowper
But many a crime deem'd innocent on earth
Is register'd in Heaven; and these no doubt
Have each their record, with a curse annex'd.
Man may dismiss compassion from his heart,
But God will never.

William Cowper