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. A Life of Sabbaths Here Beneath
2. To the Same Purpose
3. Shadows in the Water
4. Sin
5. An Hymn upon St. Bartholomew's Day

Print

2368 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version