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 Circulation. |
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 | The poetical works of Thomas Traherne |  |
The Circulation.
1
As fair Ideas from the Skie,Or Images of Things,
Unto a Spotless Mirror flie,
On unperceived Wings;
And lodging there affect the Sence,
As if at first they came from thence;
While being there, they richly Beautifie
The Place they fill, and yet communicat
Themselvs, reflecting to the Seers Ey,
Just such is our Estate.
No Prais can we return again,
No Glory in our selvs possess,
But what derived from without we gain,
From all the Mysteries of Blessedness.
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2
No Man breaths out more vital Air,Then he before suckt in.
Those Joys and Praises must repair
To us, which tis a Sin
To bury, in a Senceless Tomb.
An Earthly Weight must be the Heir
Of all those Joys, the Holy Angels Prize,
He must a King, before a Priest becom,
And Gifts receiv, or ever Sacrifice.
Tis Blindness Makes us Dumb.
Had we but those Celestial Eys,
Wherby we could behold the Sum
Of all his Bounties, we should overflow
With Praises, did we but their Causes Know.
3
All Things to Circulations oweThemselvs; by which alone
They do exist. They cannot shew
A Sigh, a Word, a Groan,
A Colour, or a Glimps of Light,
The Sparcle of a Precious Stone,
A virtue, or a Smell; a lovly Sight,
A Fruit, a Beam, an Influence, a Tear;
But they anothers Livery must Wear:
And borrow Matter first,
Before they can communicat.
Whatever's empty is accurst:
And this doth shew that we must some Estate
Possess, or never can communicate.
4
A Spunge drinks in that Water, whichIs afterwards exprest.
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Who blesseth must be Blest.
The Thirsty Earth drinks in the Rain,
The Trees suck Moysture at their Roots,
Before the one can Lavish Herbs again,
Before the other can afford us Fruits.
No Tenant can rais Corn, or pay his Rent,
Nor can even hav a Lord,
That has no Land. No Spring can vent,
No vessel any Wine afford
Wherin no Liquor's put. No Empty Purs,
Can Pounds or Talents of it self disburs.
5
Flame that Ejects its Golden Beams,Sups up the Grosser Air;
To Seas, that pour out their Streams
In Springs, those Streams repair;
Receivd Ideas make even Dreams.
No Fancy painteth foule or fair
But by the Ministry of Inward Light,
That in the Spirits Cherisheth its Sight.
The Moon returneth Light, and som men say
The very Sun no Ray
Nor Influence could hav, did it
No forrein Aids, no food admit.
The Earth no Exhalations would afford,
Were not its Spirits by the Sun restord.
6
All things do first receiv, that giv.Only tis GOD above,
That from, and in himself doth live,
Whose All sufficient Love
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And all the Joys and Glories shew
Which Mortal Man can take Delight to know
He is the Primitive Eternal Spring
The Endless Ocean of each Glorious Thing.
The Soul a Vessel is
A Spacious Bosom to Contain
All the fair Treasures of his Bliss
Which run like Rivers from, into the Main,
And all it doth receiv returns again.
| The poetical works of Thomas Traherne | |