I saw new worlds beneath the water lie,
New people; ye, another sky And sun, which seen by
Might things more clear display.
Just such
Of late my
Did in his travel see, and saw by nightA much more strange and wondrous sight;
Nor could the world exhibit such
So great a sight but in a brother.
Adventure strange!
No such in story
New or old, true or feigned, see.
On earth he seemed to move,
Yet heaven went above;
Up in the
His body
In open, visible, yet magic, sort;
As he along the way did sport,
Over the flood he takes his nimble
Without the help of feigned horse.
As he went tripping o'er the king's highway,
A little pearly river lay,
O'er which, he dared to swim,
Swim through the air On body fair;
He would not trust Icarian wings,
Lest they should prove deceitful things;
For had he fall'n, it had been wondrous high,
Not from, but from above, the sky.
He might have dropped through that thin
Into a fathomless descent;
Unto the nether
That did beneath him lie,
And there might
What wonders
On earth above. Yet doth he briskly run,
And, bold, the danger overcome;
Who, as he leapt, with joy related
How happy he o'erleapt the moon.
What wondrous things upon the earth are
Beneath, and yet above, the sun!
Deeds all appear
In higher spheres;
In clouds as yet,
But there they
Another light, and in another
Themselves to us above display.
The skies themselves this earthly globe surround;
We're even here within them found.
On heav'nly ground within the skies we walk,
And in this middle center talk:
Did we but wisely move,
On earth in heav'n above,
Then soon should we Exalted
Above the sky; from whence whoever falls,
Through a long dismal
Sinks to the deep abyss where Satan crawls,
Where horrid death and despair lies.
As much as others thought themselves to
Beneath the moon, so much more
Himself he thought to fly Above the starry sky,
As that he
Below the tide.
Thus did he yield me in the shady nightA wondrous and instructive light,
Which taught me that under our feet there is,
As o'er our heads, a place of bliss.