1That many

heliotropians1

there be,

2Philosophers unanimously agree;

3But that a plant should in the

center2

grow,

4Few naturalists to find the truth will go

5So far below the caverns of the dead

6To find this

simple3

,

simp’ring4

in her bed,

7Which sends forth branches through the sea or earth,

8And, as the sun doth rise, begins her birth;

9Then, as

he5

higher doth in splendor go,

10Even so this

azure6

flower doth taller grow,

11And when he mounts to his

meridian7

height,

12Then many

cubits8

she doth stand upright

13Above the earth, when to the western

tracts9

14

Hesperion10

goes, her stature she contracts;

15Then, when he hurries down th’Olympic hill

16Lower and lower, this brave flower grows still;

17But when in

Thetis’s11

lap he lays his head,

18She sadly sinks into her earthly bed.

19When to

th’antipodes12

he doth appear,

20She follows him to th’other hemisphere,

21The earth or sea being everywhere above her,

22She breaks through all to meet her radiant lover;

23Even so those souls which are to God united,

24Though in this vale of tears they be benighted,

25Yet still a blessed influence from above

26Sweetly inclines them to a constant love:

27Though tyrants in their innocent bloods do wallow;

28Though they the martyrs in their deaths do follow.

29

Wheels, gibbets, precipices, crosses, flame13

:

30They’ll break through all to magnify His name.

31

’Tis neither power nor principality,14

32Dear God, can separate my soul from thee;

33Nor all the powers of Heaven, Hell, or Earth

34Can keep my soul from whence she had her birth;

35Though death

calcine15

my flesh and bones to

dust16

,

36In my first principles, I’ll in Thee trust.

37Nay, even my dust dispersed shall rest in hope

38To meet my Savior in a

horoscope17

39Infinitely than this, our

orb18

, more bright–

40Not interwoven, as now, with death and night;

41Then, though I sadly here sigh out my story,

42Yet am I sure to rise again to glory.