Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. III. The Eighteenth Century: Addison to Blake
Edward Young (16811765)Extracts from Night Thoughts: Aspiration, from Night IV
O
Nature’s immortal, unmaterial sun,
Whose all-prolific beam late call’d me forth
From darkness, teeming darkness where I lay,
The worm’s inferior, and in rank beneath
The dust I tread on, high to bear my brow,
To drink the spirit of the golden day,
And triumph in existence; and could know
No motive, but my bliss; and hast ordain’d
A rise in blessing, with the patriarch’s joy,
Thy call I follow to the land unknown.
I trust in thee and know in whom I trust;
Or life, or death, is equal; neither weighs:
All weight in this—O let me live to thee!