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My Spirit

from Poems from the Dobell Folio

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2015

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Summary

1

My Naked Simple Life was I.

That Act so Strongly Shind

Upon the Earth, the Sea, the Skie,

It was the Substance of My Mind.

The Sence it self was I.

I felt no Dross nor Matter in my Soul,

No Brims nor Borders, such as in a Bowl

We see, My Essence was Capacitie.

That felt all Things,

The Thought that Springs

Therfrom's it self. It hath no other Wings

To Spread abroad, nor Eys to see,

Nor Hands Distinct to feel,

Nor Knees to Kneel:

But being Simple like the Deitie

In its own Centre is a Sphere

Not shut up here, but evry where.

2

It Acts not from a Centre to

Its Object as remote,

But present is, when it doth view,

Being with the Being it doth note.

Whatever it doth do,

It doth not by another Engine work,

But by it self; which in the Act doth lurk.

Its Essence is Transformd into a true

And perfect Act.

And so Exact

Hath God appeard in this Mysterious Fact,

That tis all Ey, all Act, all Sight,

And what it pleas can be,

Not only see,

Or do; for tis more Voluble then Light:

Which can put on ten thousand Forms,

Being clothd with what it self adorns.

3

This made me present evermore

With whatso ere I saw.

An Object, if it were before

My Ey, was by Dame Natures Law,

Within my Soul. Her Store

Was all at once within me; all her Treasures

Were my Immediat and Internal Pleasures,

Substantial Joys, which did inform my Mind.

With all she wrought,

My Soul was fraught,

And evry Object in my Heart a Thought

Begot, or was; I could not tell,

Whether the Things did there

Themselvs appear,

Which in my Spirit truly seemd to dwell;

Or whether my conforming Mind

Were not even all that therin shind.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Works of Thomas Traherne VI
Poems from the 'Dobell Folio', Poems of Felicity, The Ceremonial Law, Poems from the 'Early Notebook'
, pp. 26 - 30
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2014

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  • My Spirit
  • Edited by Jan Ross
  • Book: The Works of Thomas Traherne VI
  • Online publication: 05 May 2015
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  • My Spirit
  • Edited by Jan Ross
  • Book: The Works of Thomas Traherne VI
  • Online publication: 05 May 2015
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • My Spirit
  • Edited by Jan Ross
  • Book: The Works of Thomas Traherne VI
  • Online publication: 05 May 2015
Available formats
×