The Works of Abraham Cowley/Volume 2/The Frailty
THE FRAILTY.
I know ’tis sordid and ’tis low(All this as well as you I know)Which I so hotly now pursue(I know all this as well as you);But, whilst this cursed flesh I bear,And all the weakness and the baseness there,Alas! alas! it will be always so.
In vain, exceedingly in vain,I rage sometimes, and bite my chain;Yet to what purpose do I biteWith teeth which ne'er will break it quite? For, if the chiefest Christian HeadWas by this sturdy tyrant buffeted,What wonder is it if weak I be slain?