Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ON THE NUMEROUS ACCESSE OF THE ENGLISH TO WAITE, by KATHERINE PHILIPS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ON THE NUMEROUS ACCESSE OF THE ENGLISH TO WAITE, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Hasten (great prince) unto thy british isles
Last Line: Will go, and see him once before I dye.
Alternate Author Name(s): Orinda
Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; England; Islands; English


Hasten (great prince) unto thy British Isles,
Or all thy subjects will become exiles;
To thee they flock, Thy presence is their home,
As Pompey's residence made Afrique Rome.
They that asserted thy just cause go hence,
There to expresse their joy and reverence;
And they that did not, now, by wonder taught,
Go to confesse and expiate their fault;
So that if thou dost stay, thy gasping land
Will it selfe empty on the Belgique strand,
Where the affrighted Dutchman doth professe
He thinkes it an invasion, not addresse.
As we unmonarch'd were for want of thee,
So till thou com'st we shall unpeopled be.
None but the close Fanatique will remaine,
Who by our Loyaltie his ends will gaine:
And he the exhausted land will quickly find
As desolate a place as he design'd.
For England (though growne old with woes) will see
Her long deny'd and soveraigne remedy.
So when Old Jacob could but credit give
That his prodigious Joseph still did live,
(Joseph that was preserved to restore
Their lives, who would have taken his before)
It is enough (sayes he), to Egypt I
Will go, and see him once before I dye.





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