Tragic Fragment
tragic fragment
all devil as i am—a damned wretch,
a hardened, stubborn, unrepenting villain,
still my heart melts at human wretchedness;
and with sincere but unavailing sighs
i view the helpless children of distress:
with tears indignant i behold the oppressor
rejoicing in the honest man's destruction,
whose unsubmitting heart was all his crime.—
ev'n you, ye hapless crew! i pity you;
ye, whom the seeming good think sin to pity;
ye poor, despised, abandoned vagabonds,
whom vice, as usual, has turn'd o'er to ruin.
oh! but for friends and interposing heaven,
i had been driven forth like you forlorn,
the most detested, worthless wretch among you!
o injured god! thy goodness has endow'd me
with talents passing most of my compeers,
which i in just proportion have abused—
as far surpassing other common villains
as thou in natural parts has given me more.