Quote#Wisdom
That raven on yon left-hand oak
Quote byJohn Gay · 1685–1732
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Fables (1727), Fable, The Farmer's Wife and the Raven. Compare: "It wasn't for nothing that the raven was just now croaking on my left hand", Plautus, Aulularia, act iv. sc. 3.
English (original)
That raven on yon left-hand oak (Curse on his ill-betiding croak!) Bodes me no good.
— John Gay
More from John Gay
My lodging is on the cold ground, And hard, very hard, is my fare, But that which grieves me more Is the coldness of my dear.
All in the Downs the fleet was moor'd.
'Twas when the seas were roaring With hollow blasts of wind, A damsel lay deploring, All on a rock reclined.
So comes a reckoning when the banquet's o'er,— The dreadful reckoning, and men smile no more.
Life is a jest; and all things show it. I thought so once; and now I know it.
Adieu, she cried, and waved her lily hand.