'Etenim res creatoe exerto capite observantes <br />expectant revelationem Filiorum Dei.' <br /> <br />'For created things, watching with head erect, <br />await the revelation of the Sons of God.' <br /> <br />And do they so? Have they a sense <br />Of aught but influence? <br />Can they their heads lift, and expect, <br />And groan too? Why the elect <br />Can do no more; my volumes said <br />They were all dull, and dead; <br />They judged them senseless, and their state <br />Wholly inanimate. <br />Go, go, seal up thy looks, <br />And burn thy books. <br /> <br />I would I were a stone, or tree, <br />Or flower, by pedigree, <br />Or some poor highway herb, or spring <br />To flow, or bird to sing! <br />Then should I, tied to one sure state, <br />All day expect my date; <br />But I am sadly loose, and stray <br />A giddy blast each way; <br />O let me not thus range, <br />Thou canst not change! <br /> <br />Sometimes I sit with Thee and tarry <br />An hour or so, then vary; <br />Thy other creatures in this scene <br />Thee only aim and mean; <br />Some rise to seek Thee, and with heads <br />Erect, peep from their beds; <br />Others, whose birth is in the tomb, <br />And cannot quit the womb, <br />Sigh there, and groan for Thee, <br />Their liberty. <br /> <br />O let me not do less! Shall they <br />Watch, while I sleep or play? <br />Shall I thy mercies still abuse <br />With fancies, friends, or news? <br />O brook it not! Thy blood is mine, <br />And my soul should be Thine; <br />O brook it not! why wilt Thou stop, <br />After whole showers, one drop? <br />Sure Thou wilt joy to see <br />Thy sheep with Thee.<br /><br />Henry Vaughan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/and-do-they-so/
