Poem by Thomas Traherne

The Instruction

1

Spue out thy filth, thy flesh abjure;
Let not Contingents thee defile.
For Transients only are impure,
And Aery things thy soul beguil.

2

Unfelt, unseen let those things be
Which to thy Spirit were unknown,
When to thy Blessed Infancy
The World, thy Self, thy God was shewn.

3

All that is Great and Stable stood
Before thy Purer Eys at first:
All that in Visibles is Good
Or pure, or fair, or unaccurst.

4

Whatever els thou now dost see
In Custom, Action, or Desire,
Tis but a Part of Miserie
In which all Men at once conspire.

1. Shadows in the Water
2. The Recovery
3. Dumbness
4. To the Same Purpose
5. The Apostasy

Print

2238 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version