Upon Nothing. A POEM.
NOthing, thou Elder-Brother,
Eve to shade,
Thou had'st a Being e're the World was made,
Well fixt alone, of ending not afraid.
E're Time and Place were, Time and Place were not,
When primitive Nothing, Something strait begot;
Then all proceeded from the great united What!
Something, the General Attribute of all,
Sever'd from Thee its sole Original,
Into thy boundless Self, must undistinguisht fall.
Yet Something, did thy Nothing Power command,
And from thy Fruitful Emptinesses Hand,
Snatch Men, Beasts, Birds, Fire, Water, Air and Land.
Matter, the wicked'st Of-spring of thy Race,
By Form assisted, flew from thy Embrace,
And Rebel Light obscur'd thy Rev'rend dusky Face.
With Form and Matter, Time and Place did joyn;
Body, thy Foe, with these did Leagues combine,
To spoyl thy Peaceful Reign, and ruin all thy Line.
But Turn-Coat Time, assists the Foe in vain;
And bribed by Thee, destroys their short-lived Reign,
And to thy hungry Womb, drives back the Slaves again.
Thy Mysteries are hid from
Laick Eyes,
And the Divine alone by warrant pries
Into thy Bosom, where thy Truth in private lies.
Yet this of thee, the Wise may truly say,
Thou from the Virtuous, nothing takes away,
And to be part of thee, the Wicked wisely Pray.
Great Negative! how vainly would the Wise
Enquire, Design, Distinguish, Teach, Devise,
Did'st not thou stand to point their Blind Philosophies.
Is, or is not, the Two great Ends of Fate,
Of True or False, the Subject of debate,
That perfects or destroys designs of State.
When they have wrackt the Politicians Breast,
Within thy Bosom most securely Rest,
Reduc'd to Thee are least, tho safe and best.
But Nothing, why doth Somthing still permit,
That Sacred Monarchs should at Council sit
With Persons thought, at best, for Nothing fit?
Whilst weighty Somthing, modestly abstains
Frō Princes Courts, & frō the States-mans brains;
And Nothing there like stately Nothing Reigns.
Nothing, that dwells with Fools, in grave disguise,
For whom they Rev'rend Forms & Shapes devise,
Lawn Sleeves, and Furrs, and Gowns, when they look VVise.
French Truth,
Dutch Prowess,
British Policy,
Hybernian Learning,
Scotch Civility,
Spaniards Dispatch,
Danes Wit are seen in Thee
The Great Mans gratitude to his best Friend,
Court' promises,
Whores vows, tow'rds thee, I bend
Flow Swift, Fly into Thee, and severs in the End.
FINIS.