Let Not Me Do Less

Reading Henry Vaughan I just came across a poem that I don't recall seeing before but that I absolutely love. Amazing the way he flies from sarcasm to penitential longing, to hope in so few lines!


Henry Vaughan (1621-1695)


AND DO THEY SO?
Romans 8:19

And do they so? have they the sense
.....of ought but influence?
Can they their heads lift, and expect,
.....And groan too? why the elect
Can do no more: my volumes said
.....They were all dull, and dead,
They judged them senseless, and their state
.....Wholly inanimate.
.....Go, go; seal up they looks,
..........And burn thy books.

I would I were a stone, or tree,
.....Or flower by pedigree,
Or some poor high-way 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.

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,
I aSigh there, and groan for thee,
..........Their liberty.

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 not! why wilt thou stop
.....After whole showers one drop?
.....Sure, thou wilt joy to see
..........Thy sheep with thee.