Thou in my fancy dost much higher stand
Than woman can be placed by Nature's hand;
And I must needs, I'm sure, a loser be,
To change thee as thou'rt there, for very thee.


That prayer and labour should co-operate are thus taught by Donne:


In none but us are such mix'd engines found,
As hands of double office; for the ground
We till with them; and them to heaven we raise
Who prayerless labours, or, without this, prays,
Doth but one half, that's none.


By the same author, a common topic, the danger of procrastination,
is thus illustrated:


That which I should have begun
In my youth's morning, now late must be done;
And I, as giddy travellers must do,
Which stray or sleep all day, and having lost
Light and strength, dark and tired, must then ride post.


All that man has to do is to live and die; the sum of humanity is
comprehended by Donne in the following lines: