Thou Art Indeed Just

Justus quidem tu es,

Domine, si disputem tecum; verumtamen justa loquar adte: quare via impiorum prosperatur? |&c.| (Jerem. xii 1.) Thou art indeed just,

Lord, if I contend   With thee; but, sir, so what I plead is just.   Why do sinners' ways prosper? and why must Disappointment all I endeavour end?

Wert thou my enemy,

O thou my friend,   How wouldst thou worse,

I wonder, than thou dost   Defeat, thwart me?

Oh, the sots and thralls of lust Do in spare hours more thrive than I that spend,

Sir, life upon thy cause.

See, banks and brakes   Now, leav{`e}d how thick! lac{`e}d they are again With fretty chervil, look, and fresh wind shakes   Them; birds build — but not I build; no, but strain,

Time's eunuch, and not breed one work that wakes.   Mine,

O thou lord of life, send my roots rain.