William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910.
And Do They So? Have They a SenseHenry Vaughan (16211695)
A
Of ought but influence?
Can they their heads lift, and expect,
And groan too? why th’ elect
Can do no more; my volumes said
They were all dull, and dead;
They judg’d them senseless, and their state
Wholly inanimate.
Go, go; seal up thy looks,
And burn thy books!
Or flower by pedigree,
Or some poor highway herb, or spring
To flow, or bird to sing!
Then should I—tied to one sure state—
All day expect my date;
But I am sadly loose, and stray
A giddy blast each way;
O let me not thus change!
Thou canst not change.
An hour or so, then vary.
Thy other creatures in this scene
Thee only aim, and mean;
Some rise to seek Thee, and with heads
Erect, peep from their beds;
Others, whose birth is in the tomb,
And cannot quit the womb,
Sigh there, and groan for Thee,
Their liberty.
Watch, while I sleep or play?
Shall I Thy mercies still abuse
With fancies, friends, or news?
O brook it not! Thy blood is mine,
And my soul should be Thine;
O brook it not! why wilt Thou stop
After whole showers one drop?
Sure, Thou wilt joy to see
Thy sheep with Thee.