Henry Vaughan. "And do they so?"

ROM. CAP. 8. VER. 19.

Etenim res Creatć exerto capite observantes expectant
revelationem filiorum Dei.

by Henry Vaughan

AND 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
They were all dull, and dead ;
They judg'd them sensless, and their state
Wholly inanimate.
Go, go ; seal up thy looks,
And burn thy books !

2.
I would I were a stone, or tree,
Or flower by pedigree,
Or some poor highway herb, or spring
To flow, or bird to sing !
Then should I—tied to one sure state—
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.

3.
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
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.

4.
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,
And my soul should be Thine ;
O brook it no t! why wilt Thou stop
After whole showers one drop ?
Sure, Thou wilt joy to see
Thy sheep with Thee.

Source:
Vaughan, Henry. The Poems of Henry Vaughan, Silurist. vol I.
E. K. Chambers, Ed. London, Lawrence & Bullen Ltd., 1896. 87-88.

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