Venice masks

Saturday 22 December 2018

Mosquitoes (Sonnet XV) - George Jehoshaphat Mountain

Among the plagues on earth which God has sent
  Of lighter torment, is the plague of flies:
Not as of Egypt once the punishment,
  Yet such, sometimes, as feeble patience tries.
Where wild America in vastness lies,
  Three diverse hordes the swamps and woods infest.
Banded or singly these make man their prize:
  Quick by their subtle dart is blood express'd
Or tumour raised. By tiny foe distress'd,
  Travellers in forest rude, with veil are fain
To arm the face: men there whose dwellings rest
  Crouch in thick smoke; like help their cattle gain.
O wise in trials great, in troubles small,
Who know to find mementos of the fall!

George Jehoshaphat Mountain (1789–1863) Canada (born England but moved to Canada aged 14)
Source: All Poetry

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