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59

MEDITATION

OVER A DYING PATIENT.

I.

Well! I have done, I can no more,
But must my baffled aim deplore;
I'll lay my drugs and cordials by,
For art is vain and he must die.

II.

When heaven demands a mortal's breath,
And fainting nature yields to death,
Nor love nor art avails to save
The tott'ring fabrick from the grave.

III.

But may I in this mirror see
What I ere long must also be!
And while a pitied patient dies,
Receive instruction and be wise.

IV.

Fix'd is th' unalterable date,
Fix'd as the firm decrees of fate;
(And, O my soul! it may be nigh,)
When heaven will call and I must die.

V.

In vain physicians may be near;
In vain my friends may drop a tear;
For medicines will not relieve,
Nor love procure an hour's reprieve.
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VI.

Then will death's mighty arm arrest
This throbbing movement in my breast,
And spite of nature's feeble strife,
Victorious storm the seat of life.

VII.

Then must thou, O my soul! obey
Heaven's high command to quit thy clay:
Then must thou breathe thy final groan,
And take thy flight to worlds unknown.

VIII.

But where, O where! thy last abode?
In glory near the throne of God?
Or must thou (O! forever) dwell,
In the dark dismal shades of hell?

IX.

Lord make me to myself a friend,
To meditate my latter end!
Teach me the number of my days,
And guide my feet in wisdom's ways;

X.

That when this tenement of clay
Must sink to ruin and decay,
I may to some blest mansion rise,
A house eternal in the skies.
previous section Muscipula sive Cambromyomachia : the mouse-trap, or the battle of the Welsh and the mice
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