Hymn XXV: To Proteus

Proteus I call, whom Fate decrees to keep
The keys which lock the chambers of the deep ;
First-born, by whose illustrious pow'r alone
All Nature's principles were clearly shown.
Pure sacred matter to transmute is thine,
And decorate with forms all-various and divine.
All-honour'd, prudent, whose sagacious mind
Knows all that was and is of ev'ry kind,
With all that shall be in succeeding time,
So vast thy wisdom, wondrous and sublime :
For all things Nature first to thee consign'd,
And in thy essence omniform confin'd.
O father, to thy mystics' rites attend,
And grant a blessed life a prosp'rous end.