For with it alone I fly

To the sky;

Where I wipe mine eyes, and see
What I seek for, what I sue;

Him I view

Who hath done so much for me.

Let the wonder of this pity

Be my ditty,

And take up my lines and life :
Hearken under pain of death,

Hands and breath,

Strive in this, and love the strife.

THE POSY.*

LET wits contest,

And with their words and posies windows fill: "Less than the least

Of all Thy mercies," is my posy still.

This on my ring,

This by my picture, in my book I write ;
Whether I sing,

Or say, or dictate, this is my delight.

Invention, rest;

Comparisons, go play; wit, use thy will; "Less than the least

Of all God's mercies" is my posy still.

*A motto on a ring.

A PARODY.

SOUL'S Joy, when Thou art gone,

And I alone,

Which cannot be,

Because Thou dost abide with me,
And I depend on Thee.

Yet when thou dost suppress

The cheerfulness

Of Thy abode

And in my powers not stir abroad,
But leave me to my load;

O what a damp and shade
Doth me invade !

No stormy night

Can so afflict or so affright
As thy eclipsed light.

Ah, Lord! do not withdraw,

Lest want of awe

Make sin appear;

And when Thou dost but shine less clear,

Say that Thou art not here.

And then what life I have,

While sin doth rave,

And falsely boast

That I may seek, but Thou art lost;

Thou, and alone Thou, know'st.

O what a deadly cold

Doth me enfold!

I half believe

That sin says true; but while I grieve,
Thou com'st and dost relieve.

THE ELIXIR.

TEACH me, my God and King,

In all things Thee to see,
And what I do in anything,
To do it as for Thee.

Not rudely, as a beast,
To run into an action ;
But still to make Thee prepossest,
And give it his perfection.

A man that looks on glass,
On it may stay his eye,

Or, if he pleaseth, through it pass,

And then the heav'n espy.

All may of Thee partake;

Nothing can be so mean

Which with his * tincture (for Thy sake)

Will not grow bright and clean.

A servant with this clause

Makes drudgery divine :

Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws,

Makes that and th' action fine.

* In the seventh edition of "Herbert " this word is printed "this," not his, which appears to us the more intelligible reading.

This is the famous stone

That turneth all to gold;

For that which God doth touch and own
Cannot for less be told.

A WREATH.

A WREATHED garland of deservèd praise,
Of praise deservèd, unto Thee I give,
I give to Thee, who knowest all my ways,
My crooked winding ways, wherein I live,-
Wherein I die, not live; for life is straight,
Straight as a line, and ever tends to Thee,
To Thee, who art more far above deceit,
Than deceit seems above simplicity.

Give me simplicity, that I may live,

So live and like, that I may know Thy ways,
Know them and practise them: then shall I give
For this poor wreath, give Thee a crown of praise.

DEATH.

DEATH, thou wast once an uncouth hideous thing, Nothing but bones,

The sad effect of sadder groans:

Thy mouth was open, but thou couldst not sing.
For we considered thee as at some six

Or ten years hence,

After the loss of life and sense,

Flesh being turned to dust and bones to sticks.

We looked on this side of thee, shooting short;
Where we did find

The shells of fledge souls left behind,

Dry dust, which sheds no tears, but may extort.

But since our Saviour's death did put some blood Into thy face,

Thou art grown fair and full of grace,

Much in request, much sought for as a good.

For we do now behold thee gay and glad,
As at doomsday,

When souls shall wear their new array,
And all thy bones with beauty shall be clad.

Therefore we can go die as sleep, and trust
Half that we have

Unto an honest faithful grave,
Making our pillows either down or dust.

DOOMSDAY.

COME away,

Make no delay.

Summon all the dust to rise.

Till it stir, and rub the eyes;

While this member jogs the other,

Each one whispering, "Live you, brother?"

Come away,

Make this the day.