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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An Infant-Ey. |
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 | The poetical works of Thomas Traherne |  |
An Infant-Ey.
A simple Light from all Contagion free,
A Beam that's purely Spiritual, an Ey
That's altogether Virgin, Things doth see
Ev'n like unto the Deity:
That is, it shineth in an hevenly Sence,
And round about (unmov'd) its Light dispence.
A Beam that's purely Spiritual, an Ey
That's altogether Virgin, Things doth see
Ev'n like unto the Deity:
That is, it shineth in an hevenly Sence,
And round about (unmov'd) its Light dispence.
The visiv Rays are Beams of Light indeed,
Refined, subtil, piercing, quick and pure;
And as they do the sprightly Winds exceed,
Are worthy longer to endure:
They far out-shoot the Reach of Grosser Air,
Which with such Excellence may not compare.
Refined, subtil, piercing, quick and pure;
And as they do the sprightly Winds exceed,
Are worthy longer to endure:
They far out-shoot the Reach of Grosser Air,
Which with such Excellence may not compare.
105
But being once debas'd, they soon becom
Less activ than they were before; and then
After distracting Objects out they run,
Which make us wretched Men.
A simple Infant's Ey is such a Treasure
That when 'tis lost, w' enjoy no reall Pleasure.
Less activ than they were before; and then
After distracting Objects out they run,
Which make us wretched Men.
A simple Infant's Ey is such a Treasure
That when 'tis lost, w' enjoy no reall Pleasure.
O that my Sight had ever simple been!
And never faln into a grosser state!
Then might I evry Object still have seen
(As now I see a golden Plate)
In such an hev'nly Light, as to descry
In it, or by it, my Felicity.
And never faln into a grosser state!
Then might I evry Object still have seen
(As now I see a golden Plate)
In such an hev'nly Light, as to descry
In it, or by it, my Felicity.
As easily might soar aloft as mov
On Earth; and things remote as well as nigh
My Joys should be; and could discern the Lov
Of God in my Tranquility.
But Streams are heavy which the Winds can blow;
Whose grosser body must needs move below.
On Earth; and things remote as well as nigh
My Joys should be; and could discern the Lov
Of God in my Tranquility.
But Streams are heavy which the Winds can blow;
Whose grosser body must needs move below.
The East was once my Joy; and so the Skies
And Stars at first I thought; the West was mine:
Then Praises from the Mountains did arise.
As well as Vapors: Evry Vine
Did bear me Fruit; the Fields my Gardens were;
My larger Store-house all the Hemisphere.
And Stars at first I thought; the West was mine:
Then Praises from the Mountains did arise.
As well as Vapors: Evry Vine
Did bear me Fruit; the Fields my Gardens were;
My larger Store-house all the Hemisphere.
But Wantonness and Avarice got in
And spoil'd my Wealth; (I never to complain
Can cease, till I am purged from my Sin
And made an Infant once again:)
So that my feeble and disabled Sense
Reacht only Near Things with its Influence.
And spoil'd my Wealth; (I never to complain
Can cease, till I am purged from my Sin
And made an Infant once again:)
So that my feeble and disabled Sense
Reacht only Near Things with its Influence.
106
A House, a Woman's Hand, a piece of Gold,
A Feast, a costly Suit, a beauteous Skin
That vy'd with Ivory, I did behold;
And all my Pleasure was in Sin:
Who had at first with simple Infant-Eys
Beheld as mine ev'n all Eternities.
A Feast, a costly Suit, a beauteous Skin
That vy'd with Ivory, I did behold;
And all my Pleasure was in Sin:
Who had at first with simple Infant-Eys
Beheld as mine ev'n all Eternities.
O dy! dy unto all that draws thine Ey
From its first Objects: let not fading Pleasures
Infect thy Mind; but see thou carefully
Bid them adieu. Return: Thy Treasures
Abide thee still, and in their places stand
Inviting yet, and waiting thy Command.
From its first Objects: let not fading Pleasures
Infect thy Mind; but see thou carefully
Bid them adieu. Return: Thy Treasures
Abide thee still, and in their places stand
Inviting yet, and waiting thy Command.
| The poetical works of Thomas Traherne | |