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Verses

Chapter 52: HERETICS ALL
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About This Book

A varied collection of short poems mixing lyric meditation, satire, and balladry. The pieces range from war-tinged reflections and political commentary to convivial drinking songs, devotional verses, and playful dedications to friends and children. Many poems evoke rural and urban scenes with brisk, conversational diction, while others adopt formal stanzaic shapes for narrative effects. Themes include memory, faith, social critique, nature, and companionship, with tone shifting between humor and solemnity. The sequence alternates concise epigrams and longer narrative pieces, united by a rhythmic clarity and a direct, energetic voice that balances spontaneity with careful craft.

HERETICS ALL

Heretics all, whoever you be,
In Tarbes or Nimes, or over the sea,
You never shall have good words from me.
Caritas non conturbat me.
But Catholic men that live upon wine
Are deep in the water, and frank, and fine;
Wherever I travel I find it so,
Benedicamus Domino.
On childing women that are forlorn,
And men that sweat in nothing but scorn:
That is on all that ever were born,
Miserere Domine.
To my poor self on my deathbed,
And all my dear companions dead,
Because of the love that I bore them,
Dona Eis Requiem.