 | Poetical works (1908) |  |
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Paraphrase in Verse upon...Ecclesiast[es] 2.
I
Oh I am tir'd, I faint, I swoon, I dye,I travel all the world to find a station,
Where weary souls may safe, and happy lye,
I search for rest, feel but vexation;
I grope for substance, grasp but vanity;
I seek for life, and health, find death, damnation;
I meet approaching death, death to eschew:
Toyl'd with vain sweat, I wax old, to renew
My weary life: so spend, and hate what I pursue.
II
To Pleasures house I sail'd, and safe arriv'dI lookt for Joy, but found a Bedlam there:
Into rich Mammons baggs, and Chests I div'd,
But saw them fill'd with grief, with care, and fear:
The Crown was but a Skep, where swarms are hiv'd
Of stinging thoughts; it wears me which I wear.
Has man no good? is't lost? or am I blind?
Who? who will point the way? or cleer my mind?
To find what I should seek, to seek that I may find?
III
Look as th' industrious Bee from flowr to flowrJumps lightly, visits all, but dwells in none:
Or as a sickly taste tries sweet, and sowre,
Runs through a World of dishes, finds not one
To please his curious Palate: has no power
To relish what it likes: this bit, that bone
Long'd for, and loath'd: thus my unquiet breast
In Earth, Seas, Ayer, Heav'n vainly seeks for rest:
But serving them is curst, and serv'd by them not blest.
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IV
Can rivers seek, find rest in restless Seas?Can Ayer in stormy ayers quiet stay?
Can Heavens find in swiftest raptures ease?
Has only man no Centre? none to lay
His weary soul to rest? no place to ease
His boundless thoughts? Me thinks I see a ray,
A glorious beam break through Heav'ns Canopy;
Me thinks I hear a voice, Come Soul, and see,
Come; here, here lies thy rest; rest in my word, & me.
V
It is thy lovely voice, great Love, oh where,Where, Lord of love, where should I seek to find thee?
In every place I see thy footsteps cleer,
Yet find thee not: what are the mists that blind me?
I know Lord where thou art, and seek thee there,
Yet there I find not: thee before, behind me,
On every side I see, yet seeing blind
I find not what I see: but heark (my mind)
He speaks again: Soul seek, seek thou, and I will find.
| Poetical works (1908) | |