Who wrote a poem called The Book?
"Eternal God! maker of all
that have lived here since the man's fall
The Rock of ages!
In whose shade they live unseen
when here they fade.
Thou know'st this papyr
When it was mere seed
And after that but grass..."

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Request for Question Clarification by rbnn-ga on 06 Oct 2002 11:50 PDT

It might be helpful for us to know where you saw the poem.

Hello.

Henry Vaughan (1621-1695) wrote the poem "The Book" in 1650.

The following lines are identified as belonging to the second volume
of a collection called  "Silex Scintillans" ("Sparkling Flint"):

"Thou knew?st this paper, when it was
Mere seed, and after that but grass;"

Source: "The Poisoned Grove," a web page about Vaughan:  
http://www.cf.ac.uk/encap/ceir/scntilla/poison.html

The article "The Virtue and Discipline of Wrestling with God" is an
additional source that identifies "The Book" as part of Vaughan's
"Silex Scintillans":

"1650 and prints a second book, beginning with 'Ascension-day' and
'Ascension-Hymn' and proceeding to 'The Book,' 'To the Holy Bible,'
and 'L'Envoy.')
http://www.shu.ac.uk/emls/si-07/shawcross.htm

You can find the complete poem "The Book" in the volume "Henry
Vaughan" (Oxford Poetry Library, 1995) edited by Louis Martz.
Available from Alibris:
http://www.alibris.com/search/search.cfm?qwork=2872594&ptit=Henry%20Vaughan%3A%20The%20Oxford%20Poetry%20Library&pauth=Vaughan%2C%20Henry%2C%20and%20Martz%2C%20Louis%20L%2E%20%28Editor%29&pisbn=0192823027&pbest=3%2E75&pbestnew=1000000%2E00&pqty=9&pqtynew=0&matches=9&qsort=r

You can verify that "The Book" is in the book by looking at the
contents list of the Oxford book as listed by San Francisco State
University's library catalog (it's the third to last poem listed):
http://opac.sfsu.edu/search/thenry+vaughan/thenry+vaughan/1,9,11,E/frameset&FF=thenry+vaughan&2,,3

search strategy: "mere seed," "that but grass"

I hope this helps.