ODE XXXVIII

1

Rapt by my better Genius; beyond
The power of Earth I sitt;
And see all humaine follye in its kind;
Not what wee fancie, witt,
But has its blemish there; or Arrogance,
Or selfe opinion,
Or Impudence, or Flatterie, or Chance,
Or blind Affection,
Support the maine; these set away
What common Things wee doe, or Say.

2

Poor crauling Emmetts! in what busie toyle
Wee slip away our Time?
Our glorious Daylight, and our midnight oyle,
Spent, to enlarge our Crime.
What a prodigious Spectacle, I veiwe!
When I from hence looke downe,
Upon the Common Earth! which once I knew
And made my proper owne
With as much Zeale, as were my Fate
Chained to the whirle of her Estate.

3

Now got above the mist, of flesh and blood,
I am inform'd aright,
In all the Misterie, of Bad and Good:
A never-fadeing Light
Surrounds me; that to Judge, I cannot erre.
What have I rashly said?
Arrogant foole! my Taper went out here
And left me, halfe dismaied
To thinke, how it a Tipe might be
Of the great Light, put out in Mee.