William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910.
The ChoiceThomas Traherne (1637?–1674)
W
And in the Earth its likeness sought,
When first it out of nothing fram’d the skies,
And form’d the moon and sun
That we might see what it had done,
It was so wise
That it did prize
Things truly greatest, brightest, fairest, best,
All which it made, and left the rest.
Its daughter, that even in her youth,
Her face might shine upon us, and be known,
That by a better fate,
It other toys might antedate
As soon as shewn;
And be our own,
While we were hers; and that a virgin love
Her best inheritance might prove.
Thoughts worthy ever to endure,
Our first and disengagèd thoughts it loves,
And therefore made the truth,
In infancy and tender youth
So obvious to
Our easy view
That it doth prepossess our Soul, and proves
The cause of what it all ways moves.
For truth is so divine and pure,
So rich and acceptable, being seen,
(Not parted, but in whole)
That it doth draw and force the soul,
As the great Queen
Of bliss, between
Whom and the soul, no one pretender ought
Thrust in to captivate a thought.
The truth so fair for all our sake
That being truth, and fair and easy too,
While it on all doth shine,
We might by it become divine,
Being led to woo
The thing we view,
And as chaste virgins early with it join,
That with it we might likewise shine.
To every man, and makes all Kings.
The best and richest things it doth convey
To all, and every one,
It raised me unto a throne!
Which I enjoy,
In such a way,
That truth her daughter is my chiefest bride,
Her daughter truth’s my chiefest pride.
How soon am I of all possest!
My infancy no sooner opes its eyes,
But straight the spacious Earth
Abounds with joy, peace, glory, mirth,
And being wise
The very skies,
And stars do mine become; being all possest
Even in that way that is the best.