Thomas Traherne

That childish thoughts such joys inspire,
Doth make my wonder, and His glory higher,
His bounty, and my wealth
more

In making bodies Love could not
Itself, or art, unless it made them less
O what a monster had in man been seen,
Had every thumb or toe a mountain been

His Power bounded, greater is in might,
Than if let loose, 'twere wholly infinite
He could have made an endless sea by this,
But then it had not been a sea of bliss

For giving me desire,
An eager thirst, a burning ardent fire,
A virgin infant flame,
A love with which into the world I came,

Sin
O only fatal woe,
That mak'st me sad and mourning go
That all my joys dost spoil,

Give but to things their true esteem,
And those which now so vile and worthless
Will so much fill and please the
That we shall there the only riches find

……
An unperceived donor gave all pleasures;
There nothing was but I, and all my treasures
In that fair world,

HT is but preparative
The sight Is deep and infinite, Ah me
’tis all the glory, love, light, space, Joy, beauty and variety That doth adorn the Godhead’s dwelling-place; ’Tis all that eye can see
Even trades themselves seen in...

A learned and a happy ignorance Divided me From all the vanity, From all the sloth, care, pain, and sorrow that advance The madness and the misery Of men
No error, no distraction I Saw soil the earth, or overcloud the sky
I knew not that...

These little limbs,
These eyes and hands which here I find,
These rosy cheeks wherewith my life begins,
Where have ye been

O Nectar
O delicious stream
O ravishing and only pleasure
Where        Shall such another theme  Inspire my tongue with joys or please mine ear

Sure Man was born to meditate on things, And to contemplate the eternal springs Of God and Nature, glory, bliss, and pleasure; That life and love might be his Heavenly treasure; And therefore speechless made at first, that
Might in himself pr...