Said, "Little creature, form’d of Joy and Mirth,
"Go love without the help of any Thing on Earth."
And round our souls entwine
While thy branches mix with mine,
And our roots together join.
Joys upon our branches sit,
Chirping loud and singing sweet;
Like gentle streams beneath our feet
Innocence and virtue meet.
The Fly
Little fly,
Thy summer’s play
My thoughtless hand
Has brushed away.
Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art not thou
A man like me?
For I dance
And drink and sing,
Till some blind hand
Shall brush my wing.
If thought is life
And strength and breath,
And the want
Of thought is death,
Then am I
A happy fly,
If I live,
Or if I die.
Some to Misery are born.
Every Morn and every Night
Some are born to Sweet Delight,
Some are born to Endless Night.
***
God appears, and God is Light,
to those poor souls who dwell in Night;
but does a Human Form display
to those who dwell in realms of Day.
In heathen, Turk, or Jew.
Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell,
There God is dwelling too.
The humble sheep a threat’ning horn:
While the Lily white shall in love delight,
Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright.
A clothing for the soul divine.
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.
***
Why stand we here trembling around, calling on God for help, and not ourselves, in whom God dwells?
I have mental joy, and mental health
And mental friends, and mental wealth;
I’ve a wife I love, and that loves me;
I’ve all but riches bodily
I am in God’s presence night and day
And He never turns His face away;
The accuser of sins by my side doth stand
And he holds my money-bag in his hand
For my worldly things God makes him pay
And he’d pay for more if to him I would pray;
And so you may do the worst you can do;
Be assur’d, Mr. Devil, I won’t pray to you
Then if for riches I must not pray
God knows, I little of prayers need say;
So, as a church is known by its steeple
If I pray it must be for other people.
If we did not make somebody Poor;
And Mercy no more could be
If all were as happy as we.
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.
