1The cuckoo’s constitution’s cold
, she knows, 2Therefore unto a sparrow’s nest she goes,
3Sucks up three eggs and in their room lays one,
4Which the indulgent bird
keeps as her own; 5And when the gaping cuckoo
was grown great, 6I have seen the sparrow, trembling, bring her meat;
7But yet she nourished him still to her power
8’Til he, ungratefully, did her devour.
9So viper’s birth
makes their own dams
expire, 10And wolvish whelps
do never see their sire
. 11Even so phalangies
gives three hundred birth 12Who instantly join all and stop her breath.
13But man is worse ’cause he should better be:
14Look back to former ages and you’ll see
15Children their old, sick parents have neglected;
16Some Nero-like their mothers have dissected.
17But why should we look back to former age
18When such impieties on this our stage
19Have acted been? All nations in amaze
20For our deserved, expected vengeance gaze.
21When crimes
to such a magnitude do swell, 22They are (O horrid!) the forlorn of Hell.
23Then, O my gracious God, give me Thy grace
24Although my sins Thy image do deface.
25Yet from such horrid crimes preserve me so
26That love and gratefulness from me may flow.
27And ’til above Thy glorious face I see,
28Give me, dear God, eternal charity
.