ISAAC WATTS
Reading edition
AGAINST IDLENESS AND MISCHIEF
How doth the little busy bee Improve each shining hour, And gather honey all the day From every opening flower!
How skillfully she builds her cell! How neat she spreads her wax! And labors hard to store it well With the sweet food she makes.
In works of labor or of skill, I would be busy too; For Satan finds some mischief still For idle hands to do.
In books, or work, or healthful play, Let my first years be past, That I may give for every day Some good account at last.
A MORNING SONG
My God, who makes the sun to know His proper hour to rise, And to give light to all below, Doth send him round the skies.
When from the chambers of the east His morning race begins, He never tires, nor stops to rest, But round the world he shines.
So, like the sun, would I fulfill The business of the day: Begin my work betimes, and still March on my heavenly way.
Give me, O Lord, thy early grace, Nor let my soul complain That the young morning of my days Has all been spent in vain.