William Cowper

He was a victim of the school yard bullies And had no fond memories of his first years in school And sad to think that some robust young school goers To the less robust oft times can be cruel. And as a young man he suffered from mental illness An illness from him that never went away And a mental illness in his time a social stigma But are things that much different today. Yet despite his setbacks the poet William Cowper Wrote many great poems even past his prime And the literary critics never fail to rate him As one of the very best poets of his time. You read about the life of William Cowper And you learn there is a price to pay for fame Not much use to you when you are dead and buried If your's live on as a remembered name. What use now to Cowper if his name is still living When happiness in life he did not know And perhaps the happiest day of his existence Was when he passed on two hundred years ago? . A life of in and out of mental institutions For fame there can be a high price to pay And it doesn't matter now to William Cowper If his name lives in literature today.