| Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917. |
| |
| 23. The Elixer |
| By George Herbert (1593–1633) |
| |
| TEACH me, my God and King, | |
| In all things Thee to see, | |
| And what I do in any thing | |
| To do it as for Thee. | |
| |
| Not rudely, as a beast, | 5 |
| To runne into an action; | |
| But still to make Thee prepossest, | |
| And give it his perfection. | |
| |
| A man that looks on glasse, | |
| On it may stay his eye; | 10 |
| Or if he pleaseth, through it passe, | |
| And then the heav’n espie. | |
| |
| All may of Thee partake: | |
| Nothing can be so mean | |
| Which with his tincture, ‘for Thy sake,’ | 15 |
| Will not grow bright and clean. | |
| |
| A servant with this clause | |
| Makes drudgerie divine; | |
| Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws | |
| Makes that and th’ action fine. | 20 |
| |
| This is the famous stone | |
| That turneth all to gold; | |
| For that which God doth touch and own | |
| Cannot for lesse be told. | |
|
|
