1The

Brahman,1

, th’angry deities to appease,

2He being afflicted with a sad disease,

3Unwilling to be

grated2

thus asunder,

4He did an act made Alexander wonder:

5For on his funeral

flagrant3

pile4

he lies,

6Becoming thus both priest and sacrifice.

7What was corporeal, the fire consumes;

8His soul its pristine glory reassumes.

9So doth the

Phœnix5

fan her gilded wings

10Till

Phœbus’s6

rays her gaudy feathers

sings;7

;

11Then, in that light in which she lives, she fries—

12A glorious virgin victim; thus she dies.

13Thus though the fire her

grosser8

part consumes,

14A principle is left which reassumes

15The

azure,9

, purple, scarlet, golden

plumes10

16Which did adorn her gorgeous

gaudy11

mother;

17Thus they succeed and still exceed each other.

18Who would not such a blessed change

explore?12

?

19Or who would such a change as this

deplore?13

?

20Although I cannot in

Sol’s fulgor14

fry,

21Nor dare not like this

Gymnosophist15

die

22(Such

Stoical16

tricks a Christian spirit loathes),

23Yet as old

Aaron did put off his clothes,17

,

24So I, being worn with sorrow, sin, and age,

25Quite tired with acting in this scene and stage,

26Would gladly my mortality lay by.

27Who then can say, “

Hadassah18

here doth

lie,19

,”

28

Whenas20

my soul shall reascend above

29To God, the fount of life, light, joy, and love?

30Nor shall my scattered dust forgotten rest,

31But like the embryo in the Phœnix nest,

32

That Word that nothing did create in vain21

33Shall reinspire my

dormant dust22

again;

34And from obscurity my atoms raise

35To sing in joy His everlasting praise,

36

And reunite my body to my spirit,23

,

37That we may those eternal joys inherit,

38Which I may claim by my dear Savior’s merit.