[
  {
    "title": "On My Birthday, July 21",
    "author": "Matthew Prior",
    "lines": [
      "I, MY dear, was born to-day--",
      "So all my jolly comrades say:",
      "They bring me music, wreaths, and mirth,",
      "And ask to celebrate my birth:",
      "Little, alas! my comrades know",
      "That I was born to pain and woe;",
      "To thy denial, to thy scorn,",
      "Better I had ne'er been born:",
      "I wish to die, even whilst I say--",
      "'I, my dear, was born to-day.'",
      "I, my dear, was born to-day:",
      "Shall I salute the rising ray,",
      "Well-spring of all my joy and woe?",
      "Clotilda, thou alone dost know.",
      "Shall the wreath surround my hair?",
      "Or shall the music please my ear?",
      "Shall I my comrades' mirth receive,",
      "And bless my birth, and wish to live?",
      "Then let me see great Venus chase",
      "Imperious anger from thy face;",
      "Then let me hear thee smiling say--",
      "'Thou, my dear, wert born to-day.'"
    ],
    "linecount": "22"
  }
]