Page:King Alfred's Version of the Consolations of Boethius.djvu/303

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nor anywhere near it;

And even those creatures on which he can shine

He cannot illumine with equal light

Inside and out. But the Almighty

Ruler and Worker of the world's creatures

His own work overlooks;

All creatures alike He looks over.

He is the true Sun, and rightly so;

Such in His honour we may sing truly.

XXXI

You may know, if you will notice,

That many creatures of various kinds

Fare over earth with unlike motions,

With gait and colour quite diverse,

And aspects also of endless kinds,

Queer and common. Some creep and crawl

With all their body bound to the ground;

No wings them help on feet they walk not,

Nor pace the earth, as was them appointed.

Some on two feet fare over the ground,

Some are four-footed; some in flight

Wing beneath the clouds, Yet each creature

Is drooping earthward, stooping downward,

On the ground looking, longing for earth,

Some need-driven, some through greed.

Man only goes of all God's creatures