Betwixt Two Seas :: :: University of Virginia Library

Suppose the God you pray to night and day
To be, tho' fifty-fold more good and great—
The type of some mere earthly father, say—
A parent loving and compassionate;

Who, sparing nothing for His children's good,
Gave them fair fields and gardens, and for home
Some marble palace wrought with cedar wood
And lordly pleasances wherein to roam;

How would the children seek to best display
Their gratitude for gracious favours shown?
By droning forth that all must pass away,
That no one blessing was their very own?

That this was bitterness and that was vain,
Their father's scheme so shameless and debased
His greatest gift were best flung back again
As outraging His children's nicer taste?

Were it not meeter that with songs of praise
They strove, albeit in vain, to celebrate
The goodness of each gift, and sought to raise
The poor and hopeless to their high estate?

Whilst looking on His fields and gardens fair
With happy eyes, and when they pass'd within
Their marble palace, taking pleasure there
In all His bounties without thought of sin?

So, surely those are erring or misled
Who, bless'd with plenty, daily make their moan
And strive to prove the One who gave them bread
More honour'd could they turn it to a stone?

And you, pale anchorite, who live on roots,
And macerate the flesh, and sleep on straw,
And look on Love as only fit for brutes,
Are you so sure you read aright God's law?