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Home  »  The Book of Georgian Verse  »  Thomas Gisborne (1758–1846)

William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909.

The Worm

Thomas Gisborne (1758–1846)

TURN, turn thy hasty foot aside,

Nor crush that helpless worm!

The frame thy scornful looks deride

Requir’d a God to form.

The common Lord of all that move,

From whom thy being flow’d,

A portion of His boundless love

On that poor worm bestow’d.

The sun, the moon, the stars He made

To all His creatures free:

And spreads o’er earth the grassy blade

For worms as well as thee.

Let them enjoy their little day,

Their lowly bliss receive;

O do not lightly take away

The life thou canst not give!