Stanza 2 Summary

Lines 6-7

My poet's vanity dies in shame before thy sight.
O master poet, I have sat down at thy feet. 

• When the speaker refers to his "poet's vanity" in these lines, he's referring to the vanity that he has as an artist, a composer of poems. At one point, it looks like he thought he was a darn good poet. 
• But now, when the speaker is confronted with God, his own vanity as a poet is destroyed (actually, it's personified as dying here). But why? Well, it's because God is a way better poet than the speaker himself. Duh—of course God is a better poet than the speaker. He only created the whole universe, didn't he? 
• This idea that God is so much of a better poet than the speaker is affirmed in line 7. The speaker refers to God as a "master poet." That is, he's The Real Deal when it comes to poetry. He's the poetic Big Dog.
• The speaker's own subservience, or subordination, to God is also suggested in the image of him sitting down at God's feet. The poet is like a little kid in school sitting at the teacher's feet. He has a whole lot to learn from God.

Lines 8-9

Only let me make my life simple and straight,
like a flute of reed for thee to fill with music.

• In these final lines of the poem, the speaker makes the point that it's best to live life in a "simple and straight" way. What this means is that we have to let go of our vanity. We can't communicate with God and hear all the wonderful things he has to share with us if we're too vain or too proud, or if we're obsessed with appearances or worldly possessions, which are also expressions of vanity. Our poetry too has to be "simple and straight." It has to be written in a simple, uncomplicated way, which has the bonus of allowing us to be in closer contact with God. In order to express this idea of living a simple and straight life, the speaker uses a simile. He compares himself to "a flute of reed"—which is an instrument that's "simple and straight"—that God fills with music. 
• This speaker just loves the tunes. The reference to a flute brings up the idea of music again. Appropriate to the title of the poem—"Song VII"—the "flute" in these lines again evokes a song, or music. 
• Another important thing that the speaker's use of simile does here is that it suggests that God is the only true poet. If the speaker is just a flute, and God fills him with music, then the poetry (or music) that the speaker makes is just an expression of God's original music. 
• Following the speaker's comparison here, it's as though God breathes music into the speaker. So the speaker is just a vessel, or an instrument, that expresses God's voice. He isn't claiming any credit, since our speaker's not the one making the music himself. 
• Once again, the speaker gets across the idea that we should all just stop trying so hard to impress. We have to keep our lives and our poetry simple, if we want a direct line to God—that master poet in the sky.