NEWS
by: Thomas Traherne (1637?-1674)
- EWS from a foreign country came
- As if my treasure and my wealth lay there;
- So much it did my heart inflame,
- 'Twas wont to call my Soul into mine ear;
- Which thither went to meet
- The approaching sweet,
- And on the threshold stood
- To entertain the unknown Good.
- It hover'd there
- As if 'twould leave mine ear,
- And was so eager to embrace
- The joyful tidings as they came,
- 'Twould almost leave its dwelling-place
- To entertain the same.
-
- As if the tidings were the things,
- My very joys themselves, my foreign treasure--
- Or else did bear them on their wings--
- With so much joy they came, with so much pleasure.
- My soul stood at that gate
- To recreate
- Itself with bliss, and to
- Be pleased with speed. A fuller view
- It fain would take,
- Yet journeys back would make
- Unto my heart; as if 'twould fain
- Go out to meet, yet stay within
- To fit a place to entertain
- And bring the tidings in.
-
- What sacred instinct did inspire
- My soul in childhood with a hope so strong?
- What secret force moved my desire
- To expect my joys beyond the seas, so young?
- Felicity I knew
- Was out of view,
- And being here alone,
- I saw that happiness was gone
- From me! For this
- I thirsted absent bliss,
- And thought that sure beyond the seas,
- Or else in something near at hand--
- I knew not yet--since naught did please
- I knew--my Bliss did stand.
-
- But little did the infant dream
- That all the treasures of the world were by:
- And that himself was so the cream
- And crown of all which round about did lie.
- Yet thus it was: the Gem,
- The Diadem,
- The ring enclosing all
- That stood upon this earthly ball,
- The Heavenly eye,
- Much wider than the sky,
- Wherein they all included were,
- The glorious Soul, that was the King
- Made to possess them, did appear
- A small and little thing!
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POEMS BY THOMAS TRAHERNE |
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