The poetical works of Thomas Traherne faithfully reprinted from the author's original manuscript together with Poems of Felicity reprinted from the Burney manuscript and Poems from Various Sources: Edited with preface and notes by Gladys I. Wade |
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The Review. |
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 | The poetical works of Thomas Traherne |  |
The Review.
I
Did I grow, or did I stay?
Did I prosper or decay?
When I so
From Things to Thoughts did go?
Did I flourish or diminish,
When I so in Thoughts did finish
What I had in Things begun;
When from God's Works to think upon
The Thoughts of Men my Soul did com?
The Thoughts of Men, had they been Wise,
Should more delight me than the Skies.
They mighty Creatures are
For these the Mind
Affect, afflict, do eas or grind;
But foolish Thoughts ensnare.
Did I prosper or decay?
When I so
From Things to Thoughts did go?
Did I flourish or diminish,
When I so in Thoughts did finish
What I had in Things begun;
When from God's Works to think upon
The Thoughts of Men my Soul did com?
The Thoughts of Men, had they been Wise,
Should more delight me than the Skies.
They mighty Creatures are
For these the Mind
Affect, afflict, do eas or grind;
But foolish Thoughts ensnare.
207
Wise ones are a sacred Treasure;
Tru ones yield Substantial Pleasure:
Compar'd to them,
I Things as Shades esteem.
False ones are a foolish Flourish,
(Such as Mortals chiefly nourish)
When I them to Things compare,
Compar'd to Things, they Trifles are;
Bad Thoughts do hurt, deceiv, ensnare.
A good Man's Thoughts are of such price
That they creäte a Paradise:
But he that misemploys
That Faculty,
God, Men, and Angels doth defy;
Robs them of all their Joys.
Tru ones yield Substantial Pleasure:
Compar'd to them,
I Things as Shades esteem.
False ones are a foolish Flourish,
(Such as Mortals chiefly nourish)
When I them to Things compare,
Compar'd to Things, they Trifles are;
Bad Thoughts do hurt, deceiv, ensnare.
A good Man's Thoughts are of such price
That they creäte a Paradise:
But he that misemploys
That Faculty,
God, Men, and Angels doth defy;
Robs them of all their Joys.
II
My Child-hood is a SphereWherin ten thousand hev'nly Joys appear:
Those Thoughts it doth include,
And those Affections, which review'd,
Again present to me
In better sort the Things that I did see.
Imaginations Reall are,
Unto my Mind again repair:
Which makes my Life a Circle of Delights;
A hidden Sphere of obvious Benefits:
An Earnest that the Actions of the Just
Shall still revive, and flourish in the Dust.
| The poetical works of Thomas Traherne | |