News from a foreign country came, As if my treasure and my wealth lay there: So much it did my heart enflame, 'Twas wont to call my soul into mine ear, Which thither went to meet The approaching sweet, And on the threshold stood To entertain the unknown Good. It hover'd there As if 'twould leave mine ear, And was so eager to embrace The joyful tidings as they came, 'Twould almost leave its dwelling-place To entertain that same. II. As if the tidings were the things, My very joys themselves, my foreign treasure, Or else did bear them on their wings-- With so much joy they came, with so much pleasure-- My Soul stood at that gate To recreate Itself with bliss, and to Be pleased with speed. A fuller view It fain would take, Yet journeys back again would make Unto my heart: as if 'twould fain Go out to meet, yet stay within To fit a place to entertain And bring the tidings in. III. What sacred instinct did inspire My Soul in childhood with a hope so strong? What secret force moved my desire To expect my joy, beyond the seas, so young? Felicity I knew Was out of view; And being here alone, I saw that happiness was gone From me! For this I thirsted absent bliss, And thought that sure beyond the seas, Or else in something near at hand I knew not yet (since nought did please I knew), my bliss did stand, IV. But little did the infant dream That all the treasures of the world were by: And that himself was so the cream And crown of all which round about did lie. Yet thus it was: The Gem, The Diadem, The Ring enclosing all That stood upon this earthly ball; The Heavenly Eye, Much wider than the sky, Wherein they all included were, The glorious Soul that was the King Made to possess them, did appear A small and little thing. I must quote from another poem, if only for the pleasure of writing down the lines:-- THE SALUTATION. These little limbs, These eyes and hands which here I find, These rosy cheeks wherewith my life begins-- Where have ye been? Behind What curtain were ye from me hid so long? Where was, in what abyss, my speaking tongue? When silent I So many thousand, thousand years Beneath the dust did in a chaos lie, How could I smiles or tears Or lips or hands or eyes or ears perceive? Welcome ye treasures which I now receive!