And do they so? have they a sense
Of aught 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 thy looks,
And burn thy books!
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,
Sigh there, and groan for Thee,
Their liberty.
I would I were a stone, or tree,
Or flower by pedigree,
Or some poor highway 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.