The Works of Abraham Cowley/Volume 2/Verses lost upon a Wager

by Abraham Cowley

VERSES LOST UPON A WAGER.

As soon hereafter will I wagers lay
'Gainst what an oracle shall say;
Fool that I was, to venture to deny
A tongue so us'd to victory!
A tongue so blest by nature and by art,
That never yet it spoke but gain'd an heart:
Though what you said had not been true,
If spoke by any else but you;
Your speech will govern destiny,
And Fate will change rather than you should lye.

’Tis true, if human Reason were the guide,
Reason, methinks, was on my side;
But that 's a guide, alas! we must resign,
When th' authority's divine.
She said, she said herself it would be so;
And I, bold unbeliever! answer'd no:
Never so justly, sure, before,
Error the name of blindness bore;
For, whatsoe'er the question be,
There's no man that has eyes would bet for me.

If Truth itself (as other angels do
When they descend to human view)
In a material form would deign to shine,
'T would imitate or borrow thine:
So dazzling bright, yet so transparent clear,
So well-proportion'd, would the parts appear!
Happy the eye which Truth could see
Cloth'd in a shape like thee;
But happier far the eye
Which could thy shape naked like Truth espy!

Yet this lost wager costs me nothing more
Than what I ow'd to thee before:
Who would not venture for that debt to play,
Which he were bound howe'er to pay?
If Nature gave me power to write in verse,
She gave it me thy praises to rehearse:
Thy wondrous beauty and thy wit
Has such a sovereign right to it,
That no man's Muse for publick vent is free,
Till she has paid her customs first to thee.