When I (at Rome) beheld poore people fall,
Before brasse, stone, and paper painted,
Yea every metall, and materiall,
That canonized was, and Saynted;
I wonder’d then, where the least sense did lye,
Or in the Idoll, or the Votarye.
But I (at home) doe more admire, while they
Who are instructed oft, and told
To whom, and how, they daily ought to pray,
Are in devotion so cold:
And then, I thinke, that our neclects at home,
May well those follyes match, I saw at Rome./
Where though they doe no frankinceense consume,
Beneath the boughes of each greene Tree,
Yet rotten wood, they oftentimes perfume,
And of their od’rous smoke are free
To those dumbe Gods, whom they should rather throwe
Into the fire, then smoke on them bestowe.
While on their Ignorance I doe reflect,
And their absurdnes in devotions,
I the Almighty pray, them to direct,
With light, and better motions:
Yea that Hee would give us devotion true,
And with more heavenly notions them endue.
(Ralph Knevet)
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Based on Topics: God Poems, Light Poems, Nature Poems, Fire Poems, Home PoemsBased on Keywords: brasse, throwe, endue, dumbe, bestowe, boughes, canonized, idoll, materiall, metall, follyes