| |
| FALSE world, thou ly’st: thou canst not lend | |
| The least delight: | |
| Thy favors cannot gain a friend, | |
| They are so slight: | |
| Thy morning pleasures make an end | 5 |
| To please at night: | |
| Poor are the wants that thou supply’st, | |
| And yet thou vaunt’st, and yet thou vy’st | |
| With heaven: fond earth, thou boasts; false world, thou ly’st. | |
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| Thy babbling tongue tells golden tales | 10 |
| Of endless treasure; | |
| Thy bounty offers easy sales | |
| Of lasting pleasure; | |
| Thou ask’st the conscience what she ails, | |
| And swear’st to ease her; | 15 |
| There ’s none can want where thou supply’st; | |
| There ’s none can give where thou deny’st. | |
| Alas! fond world, thou boasts; false world, thou ly’st. | |
| |
| What well-advisèd ear regards | |
| What earth can say? | 20 |
| Thy words are gold, but thy regards | |
| Are painted clay: | |
| Thy cunning can but pack the cards, | |
| Thou canst not play: | |
| Thy game at weakest, still thou vy’st; | 25 |
| If seen, and then revy’d, deny’st: | |
| Thou art not what thou seem’st; false world, thou ly’st. | |
| |
| Thy tinsel bosom seems a mint | |
| Of new-coined treasure; | |
| A paradise, that has no stint, | 30 |
| No change, no measure; | |
| A painted cask, but nothing in ’t, | |
| Nor wealth, nor pleasure: | |
| Vain earth! that falsely thus comply’st | |
| With man; vain man! that thou rely’st | 35 |
| On earth; vain man, thou dot’st; vain earth, thou ly’st. | |
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| What mean dull souls, in this high measure, | |
| To haberdash | |
| In earth’s base wares, whose greatest treasure | |
| Is dross and trash? | 40 |
| The height of whose enchanting pleasure | |
| Is but a flash? | |
| Are these the goods that thou supply’st | |
| Us mortals with? Are these the high’st? | |
| Can these bring cordial peace? false world, thou ly’st. | 45 |
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