Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903. Etenim Res Creatæ Exerto Capite Observantes Expectant Revelationem Filiorum Dei By Henry Vaughan (1622–1695)
AND 1 do they so? have they a sense Of ought but influence? Can they their heads lift, and expect, And groan too? why, th’ elect Can do no more: my volumes said 5 They were all dull and dead; They judged them senseless, and their state Wholly inanimate. Go, go; seal up thy looks, And burn thy books. 10 I would I were a stone, or tree, Or flow’r by pedigree, Or some poor highway herb, or spring To flow, or bird to sing! Then should I, tied to one sure state, 15 All day expect my date. But I am sadly loose, and stray A giddy blast each way; O let me not thus range! Thou canst not change. 20 Sometimes I sit with Thee, and tarry 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 25 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. 30 O let not me do less! shall they 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, 35 And my soul should be Thine; O brook it not! why wilt Thou stop After whole show’rs one drop? Sure Thou wilt joy to see Thy sheep with Thee. 40
Note 1. viii. 19 , the words exerto capite, “with head outstretched,” having no parallel in the Vulgate version or Beza’s. [back ]
