The Clay and the Potter

Throw this clay upon the wheel

And shape it in your hands,

Thump it, squeeze it, mould it,

Make it pliable to your commands.

Draw it into the kind of form

That you will most desire,

Then fix it into that shape

By testing it with fire.

You are the master potter;

Keep on working with this shape

Applying expertly the heat

Until it will never break.

Then bring it to your house

As a vase that you do choose,

Coarse crude clay transformed

To a vessel that you can use.

There let it dwell with things of gold

In a final state so fine

That with the other transformed things

It can stay till the end of time.