Poems, Sacred and Moral/Equity

by Thomas Gisborne

EQUITY.

 

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Turn, turn thy hasty foot aside,
Nor crush that helpless worm:
The frame thy scornful looks deride
Requir'd a God to form.

The common Lord of all that move,
From whom thy being flow'd,
A portion of his boundless love
On that poor worm bestow'd.

The Sun, the Moon, the Stars He made
To all his Creatures free;
And spreads o'er earth the grassy blade
For worms as well as thee.

The Crown to awe, the Rod to smite,
Is Man's by law divine:
But sacred be each humbler right
That clashes not with thine!

Let savage prowlers of the wood,
With thirst of hunger bold;
Let poisonous foes, by land or flood;
Let plunderers of thy fold;

Let pilferers of thy hoarded grain,
To justice victims die:
But injure not the harmless train
That creep, or walk, or fly.

Let them enjoy their little day,
Their lowly bliss receive:
O, do not lightly take away
The Life thou canst not give!