Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 36.djvu/132

But I'll more tender prove and kind;
Tis best to cultivate the mind.
We find e'en Solomon declare
The wise by far exceed the fair.
I'm poor, is that so hard a case?
Sure poverty is no disgrace.
Can't one enjoy content of mind,
Except on ivory bed reclined?
Madam, in all this regal pride,
When you lie by our monarch's side,
Do you enjoy more kindly rest?
Does love sincerer warm your breast?
You've read of old Philemon's flame
For Baucis, though an ancient dame.
Those jealousies by old age bred,
Dwell not beneath the rustic shed;
Vice flies where luxury is unknown,
We equal kings, serve God alone;
Your country's glory we support,
We furnish soldiers for the court:
In rendering populous the state,
The poor by much outdo the great.
If heaven should to my chaste desire
Refuse the offspring I require,
Love's flowers without its fruits can please,
Upon love's tree those flowers I'll seize."
While thus the ancient dame descanted,
All the court ladies were enchanted.
Robert was to her arms consigned,
Disgust was vain, for oaths must bind;
The dame insisted on her right
Of riding with her much loved knight