Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden
William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585–1649)Extracts from The Flowers of Sion: For the Baptist
T
Girt with rough skins, hies to the deserts wild,
Among that savage brood the woods forth bring,
Which he than man more harmless found and mild:
His food was locusts, and what young doth spring,
With honey that from virgin hives distill’d;
Parch’d body, hollow eyes, some uncouth thing
Made him appear long since from earth exil’d.
There burst he forth: ‘All ye, whose hopes rely
On God, with me amidst these deserts mourn;
Repent, repent, and from old errors turn.’
Who listen’d to his voice, obey’d his cry?
Only the echoes, which he made relent,
Rung from their marble caves, ‘Repent, repent!’