Classic Poem

To whom thus Job: " You are the only wise,
And when you die, the fame of wisdom dies.
Though passion be a fool, though you profess
Yourselves such sages, yet know I no less,
Nor am to you inferior. What blind soul
Could this not see? 'Tis easy to control.
My sad example shows, how those whose cries
Ev'n God regards, their scoffing friends despise.
He that is wretched, though in life a saint,
Becomes a scorn: this is an old complaint.
Those who grow old in fluency and ease,
When they from shore behold him toss'd on seas,
And near his ruin, his condition slight,
Priz'd as a lamp consum'd with his own light.
The tents of robbers flourish. Earth's increase
Foments their riot, who disturb her peace.
Who God contemn, in sin securely reign;
And prosp'rous crimes the meed of virtue gain.
Ask thou the citizens of pathless woods,
What cut the air with wings, what swim in floods,
Brute beasts, and fost'ring earth; in general
They will confess the pow'r of God in all.
Who knows not that His hands both good and ill
Dispense; that fate depends upon His will?
All that have life are subject to His sway,
And at His pleasure prosper, or decay.
Is not the ear the judge of eloquence?
Gives not the palate to the taste his sense?
Sure, knowledge is deriv'd from length of years,
And wisdom's brows are cloth'd with silver hairs.
God's pow'r is as His prudence, equal great;
In counsel, and intelligence, complete.
Who can what He shall ruin, build again;
Loose whom He binds, or His strong arm restrain?
At His rebuke, the living waters fly
To their old springs, and leave their channels dry.
When He commands, in cataracts they roar,
And the wild ocean leaves itself no shore.
His wisdom and His pow'r our thoughts transcend.
Both the deceiver and deceiv'd depend
Upon His beck; He those who others rule
Infatuates, and makes the judge a fool;
Dissolves the nerves of empire; kings deprives
Of sov'reignty, their crowns exchang'd for gyves.
Impoverish'd nobles into exile leads;
And on the carcases of princes treads.
Takes from the orator his eloquence;
From ancient sages their discerning sense,
Subjects the worthy to contempt and wrong;
The valiant terrifies, disarms the strong.
Unveils the secrets of the silent night;
Brings, what the shades of death obscures, to light.
A nation makes more num'rous than the stars;
Again devours with famine, plagues, and wars.
Now, like a deluge, they the earth surround;
Forthwith, reduc'd into a narrow bound.
He fortitude and counsel takes away
From their commanders; who in deserts stray,
Grope in the dark, and to no seat confine
Their wand'ring feet, but reel as drunk with wine.