Mount Of Olives (I)

written by


« Reload image

1.
SWEET, sacred hill ! on whose fair brow
My Saviour sate, shall I allow
  Language to love,
And idolize some shade, or grove,
Neglecting thee ? such ill-plac'd wit,
Conceit, or call it what you please,
  Is the brain's fit,
  And mere disease.
2.
Cotswold and Cooper's both have met
With learn褠swains, and echo yet
  Their pipes and wit ;
But thou sleep'st in a deep neglect,
Untouch'd by any ; and what need
The sheep bleat thee a silly lay,
  That heard'st both reed
  And sheepward play ?

3.
Yet if poets mind thee well,
They shall find thou art their hill,
  And fountain too.
Their Lord with thee had most to do ;
He wept once, walk'd whole nights on thee :
And from thence?His suff'rings ended?
  Unto glory
  Was attended.

4.
Being there, this spacious ball
Is but His narrow footstool all ;
  And what we think
Unsearchable, now with one wink
He doth comprise ; but in this air
When He did stay to bear our ill
  And sin, this hill
  Was then His Chair.

© Henry Vaughan