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

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