"As by instinct the Loadstone draws / The iron, as the Amber straws; / So let thy grace mine heart attract, / Dear Lord!"

— Billingsley, Nicholas (bap. 1633, d. 1709)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Robert Crofts [etc.]
Date
1658
Metaphor
"As by instinct the Loadstone draws / The iron, as the Amber straws; / So let thy grace mine heart attract, / Dear Lord!"
Metaphor in Context
Oh from thy Radient Throne above
Look down on me, Great God of love:
With sacred Light my Soul infuse,
And wing, for flight, mine unfledg'd Muse,
That she may like the morning Lark
Mount up and sing: Lord I'me a spark;
But if thy Bellows please to blow
Me up, Oh then I needs must glow.
My God to me a Being gave,
To use those little gifts I have;
Oh may I then to after days
Make known my All-Creators praise;
As by instinct the Loadstone draws
The iron, as the Amber straws;
So let thy grace mine heart attract,
Dear Lord!
O make me have respect
To all thy righteous Laws, begin
To purge out all my dross: my Tinn
Remove far from me; Oh inflame
My frozen Spirit, to praise thy Name.
Let Heaven fill me to the brim
Above the world, Oh may I swim.
And (as it were) my soul divorce
From Transient joys: Oh steer my course
According to thy compass: Guid
My reeling Pinace, make the Tide
Tranquil, and let the milder gale
Of thy sweet Spirit, stuff my Sail,
Until I safely am arriven
At the desired Haven, Heaven;
Where I shall see the God of nature,
And always praise the worlds Creator.
Provenance
Searching "heart" and "iron" in HDIS (Poetry)
Theme
Magnetism
Date of Entry
06/07/2005

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.