Paraphrase Of Proverbs, Chap. VI. Verses 6-11
by
PARAPHRASE OF PROVERBS, CHAP. VI.
VERSES 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.
“Go to the ant, thou sluggard[A].”
Turn on the prudent ant thy heedful eyes,
Observe her labours, sluggard, and be wise:
No stern command, no monitory voice,
Prescribes her duties, or directs her choice;
Yet, timely provident, she hastes away,
To snatch the blessings of the plenteous day;
When fruitful summer loads the teeming plain,
She crops the harvest, and she stores the grain.
How long shall sloth usurp thy useless hours,
Unnerve thy vigour, and enchain thy pow’rs;
While artful shades thy downy couch inclose,
And soft solicitation courts repose?
Amidst the drowsy charms of dull delight,
Year chases year with unremitted flight,
Till want now following, fraudulent and slow,
Shall spring to seize thee like an ambush’d foe.
[Footnote A: First printed in Mrs. Williams’s Miscellanies.]