| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909. | | | | The Worm | | By Thomas Gisborne (1758–1846) |
| | | TURN, turn thy hasty foot aside, | |
| Nor crush that helpless worm! | |
| The frame thy scornful looks deride | |
| Requir’d a God to form. | |
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| The common Lord of all that move, | 5 |
| From whom thy being flow’d, | |
| A portion of His boundless love | |
| On that poor worm bestow’d. | |
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| The sun, the moon, the stars He made | |
| To all His creatures free: | 10 |
| And spreads o’er earth the grassy blade | |
| For worms as well as thee. | |
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| Let them enjoy their little day, | |
| Their lowly bliss receive; | |
| O do not lightly take away | 15 |
| The life thou canst not give! | | | | |
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