This past, I threw the clothes quite o’er
his head;
And, stung with
fear
Of my own frailty, dropped down many a
tear
Upon his bed;
Then sighing, whispered, Happy are
the dead!
What peace doth
now
Rock him asleep below!
And yet, how few believe such doctrine
springs
From a poor root
Which all the winter sleeps here under
foot,
And hath no wings
To raise it to the truth and light of
things,
But is still trod
By every wandering clod!
O thou, whose spirit did at first inflame
And warm the dead!
And by a sacred incubation fed
With life this
frame,
Which once had neither being, form, nor
name!
Grant I may so
Thy steps track here below,
That in these masks and shadows I may
see
Thy sacred way;
And by those hid ascents climb to that
day
Which breaks from
thee,
Who art in all things, though invisibly:
Show me thy peace,
Thy mercy, love, and ease.
And from this care, where dreams and sorrows
reign,
Lead me above,
Where light, joy, leisure, and true comforts
move
Without all pain:
There, hid in thee, show me his life again
At whose dumb
urn
Thus all the year I mourn.
There are several amongst his poems lamenting, like this, the death of some dear friend—perhaps his twin-brother, whom he outlived thirty years.
According to what a man is capable of seeing in nature, he becomes either a man of appliance, a man of science, a mystic, or a poet.
I must now give two that are simple in thought, construction, and music. The latter ought to be popular, from the nature of its rhythmic movement, and the holy merriment it carries. But in the former, note how the major key of gladness changes in the third stanza to the minor key of aspiration, which has always some sadness in it; a sadness which deepens to grief in the next stanza at the consciousness of unfitness for Christ’s company, but is lifted by hope almost again to gladness in the last.
CHRIST’S NATIVITY.
Awake, glad heart! Get up, and sing!
It is the birthday of thy king!
Awake! awake!
The sun doth shake
Light from his locks, and, all the way
Breathing perfumes, doth spice the day.
Awake! awake! Hark how the wood rings
Winds whisper, and the busy springs
A concert make:
Awake! awake!
Man is their high-priest, and should rise
To offer up the sacrifice.
I would I were some bird or star,
Fluttering in woods, or lifted far
Above this inn
And road of sin!
Then either star or bird should be
Shining or singing still to thee.
I would I had in my best part
Fit rooms for thee! or that my heart
Were so clean
as
Thy manger was!
But I am all filth, and obscene;
Yet, if thou wilt, thou canst make clean.