Such a rich air of sweets as evening showers,

Fanned by a gentle gale, convey and breathe
On some parched bank, crowned with a flow'ry wreath;
Odors and myrrh and balm in one rich flood

O'erran my heart and spirited my blood;
My thoughts did swim in comforts, and mine eye
Confessed, The world did only paint and lie.
And where before I did no safe course steer,
But wandered under tempests all the year,
Went bleak and bare in body as in mind,
And was blown through by ev'ry storm and wind;
I am so warmed now by this glance on me
That 'midst all storms I feel a ray of thee;
So have I known some beauteous paisage rise
In sudden flowers and arbors to my eyes,
And in the depth and dead of winter bring
To my cold thoughts a lively sense of spring.

Thus fed by thee, who dost all beings nourish,
My withered leaves again look green, and flourish;
I shine and shelter underneath thy wing,
Where sick with love I strive thy name to sing,
Thy glorious name! which grant I may so do
That these may be thy praise, and my joy too.

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To die here for thy sake.
If thou canst get but thither,
There grows the flower of peace,
The rose that cannot wither,

Thy fortress and thy ease;
Leave then thy foolish ranges,
For none can thee secure
But one who never changes,
Thy God, thy life, thy cure.

THOMAS TRAHERNE

The Introduction and Notes are at page 1027

FROM Poems of Felicity, Burney Ms. 392

Wonder

How like an angel came I down!

How bright are all things here!

guiry

When first among his works I did appear,
Oh, how their glory did me crown!

The world resembled his eternity,

In which my soul did walk;

And ev'rything that I did see
Did with me talk.

The skies in their magnificence,
The lovely lively air,

Oh, how divine, how soft, how sweet, how fair!
The stars did entertain my sense,
And all the works of God so bright and pure,

So rich and great, did seem,

As if they ever must endure

In my esteem.

A native health and innocence

Within my bones did grow,

And while my God did all his glories show,
I felt a vigor in my sense

That was all spirit; I within did flow
With seas of life like wine;

I nothing in the world did know,
But 'twas divine.

Harsh rugged objects were concealed;
Oppressions, tears, and cries,

Sins, griefs, complaints, dissensions, weeping eyes,
Were hid, and only things revealed
Which heavenly spirits and the angels prize:

The state of innocence

And bliss, not trades and poverties,
Did fill my sense.

The streets seemed paved with golden stones,
The boys and girls all mine-

To me how did their lovely faces shine!
The sons of men all holy ones,
In joy and beauty then appeared to me;
And ev'rything I found,
While like an angel I did see,
Adorned the ground.

Rich diamonds, and pearl, and gold
Might ev'rywhere be seen;

Rare colors, yellow, blue, red, white, and green,

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THOMAS TRAHERNE

Mine eyes on ev'ry side behold;
All that I saw a wonder did appear,
Amazement was my bliss,
That and my wealth met ev'rywhere;
No joy to this!

Cursed, ill-devised proprieties,

With envy, avarice,

And fraud, those fiends that spoil ev'n paradise,
Were not the object of mine eyes;
Nor hedges, ditches, limits, narrow bounds,
I dreamt not aught of those,
But in surveying all men's grounds
I found repose.

For property itself was mine,

And hedges, ornaments,

Walls, houses, coffers, and their rich contents,

To make me rich combine.

Clothes, costly jewels, laces, I esteemed

My wealth, by others worn,

For me they all to wear them seemed,
When I was born.

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Eden

A learned and happy ignorance

Divided me

From all the vanity,

From all the sloth, care, sorrow, that advance

The madness and the misery

Of men. No error, no distraction, I

Saw cloud the earth, or overcast the sky.

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

On men did overspread

The world, nor did I dream of such a thing
As sin, in which mankind lay dead.

They all were brisk and living things to me,
Yea, pure and full of immortality.

Joy, pleasure, beauty, kindness, charming love,

Sleep, life, and light,

Peace, melody-my sight,

Mine ears, and heart did fill and freely move;

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All that I saw did me delight;
The universe was then a world of treasure,
To me an universal world of pleasure.

Unwelcome penitence I then thought not on;

Vain costly toys,

Swearing and roaring boys,

Shops, markets, taverns, coaches, were unknown,
So all things were that drown my joys;
No thorns choked up my path, nor hid the face
Of bliss and glory, nor eclipsed my place.

Only what Adam in his first estate,
Did I behold;

Hard silver and dry gold
As yet lay underground; my happy fate
Was more acquainted with the old
And innocent delights which he did see
In his original simplicity.

Those things which first his Eden did adorn,
My infancy

Did crown; simplicity
Was my protection when I first was born.
Mine eyes those treasures first did see

Which God first made; the first effects of love
My first enjoyments upon earth did prove,

And were so great, and so divine, so pure,
So fair and sweet,

So true, when I did meet

Them here at first they did my soul allure,

And drew away mine infant feet

Quite from the works of men, that I might see
The glorious wonders of the Deity.

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;

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It hovered there

As if 'twould leave mine ear,

And was so eager to embrace
Th' expected tidings as they came,
That it could change its dwelling place

To meet the voice of fame;

As if new tidings were the things
Which did comprise my wishëd unknown treasure,
Or else did bear them on their wings,
With so much joy they came, with so much pleasure.

My soul stood at the gate

To recreate

Itself with bliss, and woo
Its speedier approach; 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,
Fitting a place to entertain

And bring the tidings in.

What sacred instinct did inspire

My soul in childhood with an hope so strong?
What secret force moved my desire
T' expect my joys beyond the seas, so young?

Felicity I knew

Was out of view;

And being left alone,

I thought all happiness was gone
From earth; for this

I longed for absent bliss,
Deeming that sure beyond the seas,
Or else in something near at hand
Which I knew not, since nought 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 earthen ball,

The heav'nly eye,

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