Poem's Progress

Would'st thou divert thyself from melancholy? Would'st thou be pleasant, yet be far from folly? / Would'st thou read riddles and their explanation, or else be drownded in thy contemplation? / Dost thou love picking-meat? Or would'st thou see A man i' the clouds, and hear him speak to thee? / Would'st thou be in a dream, and yet not sleep? Or would'st thou in a moment laugh and weep? / Would'st thou lose thyself, and catch no harm And find thyself again without a charm? / Would'st read thyself, and read thou know'st not what and yet know whether thou art blest or not, / By reading the same lines? O then come hither, And lay my book, thy head and heart together. (John Bunyan) (Illustration by Alan Parry from "A Dangerous Journey")