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| NOTHING! thou elder brother even to shade, | |
| That hadst a being ere the world was made, | |
| And (well fixed) art alone of ending not afraid. | |
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| Ere Time and Place were, Time and Place were not, | |
| When primitive Nothing Something straight begot, | 5 |
| Then all proceeded from the great united—What? | |
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| Something, the general attribute of all, | |
| Sever’d from thee, its sole original, | |
| Into thy boundless self must undistinguish’d fall. | |
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| Yet Something did thy mighty power command, | 10 |
| And from thy fruitful emptiness’s hand | |
| Snatch’d men, beasts, birds, fire, air, and land. | |
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| Matter, the wicked’st offspring of thy race, | |
| By Form assisted, flew from thy embrace; | |
| And rebel Light obscured thy reverend dusky face. | 15 |
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| With Form and Matter, Time and Place did join; | |
| Body, thy foe, with thee did leagues combine, | |
| To spoil thy peaceful realm, and ruin all thy line. | |
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| But turn-coat Time assists the foe in vain, | |
| And, bribed by thee, assists thy short-liv’d reign, | 20 |
| And to thy hungry womb drives back thy slaves again. | |
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| Though mysteries are barr’d from laic eyes, | |
| And the divine alone, with warrant, pries | |
| Into thy bosom, where the truth in private lies; | |
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| Yet this of thee the wise may freely say, | 25 |
| Thou from the virtuous Nothing tak’st away, | |
| And to be part with thee the wicked wisely pray. | |
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| Great Negative! how vainly would the wise | |
| Inquire, define, distinguish, teach, devise? | |
| Didst thou not stand to point their dull philosophies. | 30 |
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| Is, or is not, the two great ends of Fate, | |
| And, true or false, the subject of debate, | |
| That perfect or destroy the vast designs of Fate; | |
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| When they have rack’d the politician’s breast, | |
| Within thy bosom most securely rest, | 35 |
| And, when reduced to thee, are least unsafe and best. | |
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| But Nothing, why does Something still permit, | |
| That sacred monarchs should at council sit, | |
| With persons highly thought at best for nothing fit? | |
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| Whilst weighty Something modestly abstains | 40 |
| From princes’ coffers, and from statesmen’s brains, | |
| And nothing there like stately Nothing reigns. | |
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| Nothing, who dwell’st with fools in grave disguise, | |
| For whom they reverend shapes and forms devise, | |
| Lawn sleeves, and furs, and gowns, when they like thee look wise. | 45 |
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| French truth, Dutch prowess, British policy, | |
| Hibernian learning, Scotch civility, | |
| Spaniards’ dispatch, Danes’ wit, are mainly seen in thee. | |
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