Литмир - Электронная Библиотека

Where Gates impregnable, and coercive Charms

In durance vile detain him, till in form

Of Money, Pallas set the Captive free.

Beware, ye Debtors, when ye walk, beware,

Be circumspect; oft with insidious Ken,

This Caitiff eyes your steps aloof, and oft

Lies perdue in a Creek or gloomy Cave,

Prompt to enchant some inadvertent wretch

With his unhallow’d Touch. So (Poets sing)

Grimalkin to Domestick Vermin sworn

An everlasting Foe, with watchful eye,

Lyes nightly brooding ore a chinky gap,

Protending her fell claws, to thoughtless Mice

Sure Ruin. So her disembowell’d Web

The Spider in a Hall or Kitchin spreads,

Obvious to vagrant Flies: she secret stands

Within her woven Cell; the Humming Prey

Regardless of their Fate, rush on the toils

Inextricable, nor will ought avail

Their Arts nor Arms, nor Shapes of lovely Hue,

The Wasp insidious, and the buzzing Drone,

And Butterfly proud of expanded wings

Distinct with Gold, entangled in her Snares,

Useless resistance make: with eager strides,

She tow’ring flies to her expected Spoils;

Then with envenom’d Jaws the vital Blood

Drinks of reluctant Foes, and to her Cave

Their bulky Carcasses triumphant drags.

      So pass my days. But when Nocturnal Shades

This World invelop, and th’ inclement Air

Perswades Men to repel benumbing Frosts,

With pleasant Wines, and crackling blaze of Wood;

Me lonely sitting, nor the glimmering Light

Of make-weight Candle, nor the joyous talk

Of lovely friend delights; distress’d, forlorn,

Amidst the horrors of the tedious night,

Darkling I sigh, and feed with dismal Thoughts

My anxious Mind; or sometimes mournful Verse

Indite, and sing of Groves and Myrtle Shades,

Or desperate Lady near a purling stream,

Or Lover pendent on a Willow-tree:

Mean while I labour with eternal drought,

And restless wish, in vain, my parched Throat

Finds no relief, nor heavy eyes repose:

But if a Slumber haply do’s invade

My weary Limbs, my Fancy still awake,

Longing for Drink, and eager in my Dream,

Tipples Imaginary Pots of Ale.

Awake, I find the setled Thirst—

Still gnawing, and the pleasant Phantom curse.

      Thus do I live from Pleasure quite debarr’d,

Nor tast the Fruits that the Sun’s genial Rays

Mature, John-apple nor the Downy Peach,

Nor Walnut in rough-furrow’d Coat secure,

Nor Medlar Fruit delicious in decay;

Afflictions great, yet greater still remain,

My Galligaskins that have long withstood

The Winter’s Fury, and encroaching Frosts,

By time subdu’d, (what will not time subdue!)

A horrid Chasm disclose, with Orifice

Wide discontinuous; at which the Winds

Eurus and Auster, and the dreadful force

Of Boreas, that congeals the Cronian Waves,

Tumultuous enter with dire chilling Blasts,

Portending Agues. Thus a well-fraught Ship

Long sail’d secure, or through a Egean Deep,

Or the Ionian, till Crusing near

The Lilybean Shoar, with hideous Crush

On Scylla or Charibdis dangerous Rocks

She strikes rebounding, whence the shatter’d Oak,

So fierce a Shock unable to withstand,

Admits the Sea, in at the gaping Side,

The crouding Waves gush with impetuous Rage

Resistless overwhelming; Horrors seize

The Mariners, Death in their eyes appears,

They stare, they lave, they pump, they swear, they pray:

Vain Efforts, still the battering Waves rush in

Implacable, till delug’d by the foam,

The Ship sinks found’ring in the vast Abyss.

FINIS.

Джон Филипс (1676–1709)

Звонкий шиллинг

Подражание Мильтону

…О Муза, пой

Неведомое прозе и стихам –

Заветный шиллинг, ветхие портки. Счастливец, кто избавлен от забот,

Чей шелковый иль кожаный кошель

Не пуст, — и можно пить холодный эль,

И не грустить при виде свежих устриц.

Блажен грядущий сквозь ночной туман

С друзьями в «Можжевельник» иль «Сороку»!

Он помнит нимфу, чей игривый зрак

Ожег его Эротовым огнем —

И за ее ответную любовь

Исправно пьет из чаши круговой.

И курит, и смеется чепухе —

Несвязным шуткам клюкнувших друзей.

Но аз, погрязший в гнусной нищете,

143
{"b":"877123","o":1}