1     Whatever 'tis, whose beauty here below
2     Attracts thee thus and makes thee stream and flow,
3         And wind and curl, and wink and smile,
4             Shifting thy gate and guile;
5     Though thy close commerce nought at all imbars
6     My present search, for eagles eye not stars,
7         And still the lesser by the best
8             And highest good is blest;
9     Yet, seeing all things that subsist and be,
10   Have their commissions from divinity,
11       And teach us duty, I will see
12           What man may learn from thee.
13   First, I am sure, the subject so respected
14   Is well dispos'd, for bodies once infected,
15       Deprav'd, or dead, can have with thee
16           No hold, nor sympathy.
17   Next, there's in it a restless, pure desire
18   And longing for thy bright and vital fire,
19       Desire that never will be quench'd,
20           Nor can be writh'd, nor wrench'd.
21   These are the magnets which so strongly move
22   And work all night upon thy light and love,
23       As beauteous shapes, we know not why,
24           Command and guide the eye.
25   For where desire, celestial, pure desire
26   Hath taken root, and grows, and doth not tire,
27       There God a commerce states, and sheds
28           His secret on their heads.
29   This is the heart he craves, and who so will
30   But give it him, and grudge not, he shall feel
31       That God is true, as herbs unseen
32           Put on their youth and green.