Nature
Verses Printed by Himself on a Flood at Olney
From Poems
To watch the storms, and hear the sky
Give all our almanacks the lie;
To shake with cold, and see the plains
In autumn drown'd with wintry rains;
'Tis thus I spend my moments here,
And wish myself a Dutch mynheer;
I then should have no need of wit;
For lumpish Hollander unfit!
Nor should I then repine at mud,
Or meadows deluged with a flood;
But in a bog live well content,
And find it just my element;
Should be a clod, and not a man;
Nor wish in vain for Sister Ann,
With charitable aid to drag
My mind out of its proper quag;
Should have the genius of a boor,
And no ambition to have more.
Cite this poem
MLA
Cowper, William. “Verses Printed by Himself on a Flood at Olney.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/cowper/148/.
Chicago
Cowper, William. “Verses Printed by Himself on a Flood at Olney.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/cowper/148/.
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