Poems by Thomas Traherne

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An Hymn upon St Bartholomew's Day

What powerful Spirit lives within!

What active Angel doth inhabit here!

What heavenly light inspires my skin,

Which doth so like a Deity appear!

A living Temple of all ages, I

Within me see

A Temple of Eternity!

All Kingdoms I descry

by Thomas Traherne

The Anticipation

My contemplation dazzles in the End

Of all I comprehend,

And soars above all heights,

Diving into the depths of all delights.

Can He become the End,

To whom all creatures tend,

Who is the Father of all Infinites?

Then may He benefit receive from things,

by Thomas Traherne

Wonder

How like an angel came I down!

How bright are all things here!

When first among his works I did appear

O how their glory me did crown!

The world resembled his eternity,

In which my soul did walk;

And ev'ry thing that I did see

Did with me talk.

by Thomas Traherne

The Rapture

Sweet Infancy!

O fire of heaven! O sacred Light

How fair and bright,

How great am I,

Whom all the world doth magnify!

O Heavenly Joy!

O great and sacred blessedness

by Thomas Traherne

Dumbness

Sure Man was born to meditate on things,

And to contemplate the eternal springs

Of God and Nature, glory, bliss, and pleasure;

That life and love might be his Heavenly treasure;

And therefore speechless made at first, that He

Might in himself profoundly busied be:

And not vent out, before he hath taâ€™en in

Those antidotes that guard his soul from sin.

by Thomas Traherne

Shadows in the Water

In unexperienced infancy

Many a sweet mistake doth lie:

Mistake though false, intending true;

A seeming somewhat more than view;

That doth instruct the mind

In things that lie behind,

And many secrets to us show

Which afterwards we come to know.

by Thomas Traherne

Eden

A learned and a happy ignorance

Divided me

From all the vanity,

From all the sloth, care, pain, and sorrow that advance

The madness and the misery

Of men. No error, no distraction I

Saw soil the earth, or overcloud the sky.

I knew not that there was a serpent's sting,

by Thomas Traherne

News

News from a foreign country came,

As if my treasures and my joys lay there;

So much it did my heart inflame,

'Twas wont to call my soul into mine ear;

Which thither went to meet

Th' approaching sweet,

And on the threshold stood

To entertain the secret good;

by Thomas Traherne

A Serious and Pathetical Contemplation of the Mercies of God

For all the mysteries, engines, instruments, wherewith the world is filled, which we are able to frame and use to thy glory.

For all the trades, variety of operations, cities, temples, streets, bridges, mariner's compass, admirable picture, sculpture, writing, printing, songs and music; wherewith the world is beautified and adorned.

Much more for the regent life,

And power of perception,

Which rules within.

That secret depth of fathomless consideration

That receives the information

Of all our senses,

by Thomas Traherne

In Salem Dwelt a Glorious King

In Salem dwelt a glorious King,

Raised from a shepherd's lowly state;

That did His praises like an angel sing

Who did the World create.

By many great and bloody wars

He was advanced unto Thrones

But more delighted in the stars

by Thomas Traherne

Desire

For giving me desire,

An eager thirst, a burning ardent fire,

A virgin infant flame,

A love with which into the world I came,

An inward hidden heavenly love,

Which in my soul did work and move,

And ever, ever me inflame

With restless longing, heavenly avarice,

by Thomas Traherne

Sin

Sin!

O only fatal woe,

That mak'st me sad and mourning go!

That all my joys dost spoil,

His Kingdom and my Soul defile!

I never can agree

With thee!

Thou!

by Thomas Traherne