Whether it be that Nature is so pure, And custom only vicious; or that sure God did by miracle the guilt remove, And made my soul to feel his Love So early: or that 'twas one day, Wherein this happiness I found, Whose strength and brightness so do ray, That still it seems me to surround, Whate'er it is, it is a Light So endless unto me That I a world of true delight Did then, and to this day do see. V That prospect was the gate of Heaven, that day The ancient Light of Eden did convey Into my soul: I was an Adam there, A little Adam in a sphere Of joys! O there my ravisht sense Was entertained in Paradise, And had a sight of Innocence, Which was beyond all bound and price. An antepast of Heaven sure! I on the Earth did reign, Within, without me, all was pure: I must become a child again. THE PREPARATIVE I My body being dead, my limbs unknown; Before I skill'd to prize Those living stars mine eyes, Before my tongue or cheeks were to me shown, Before I knew my hands were mine, Or that my sinews did my members join, When neither nostril, foot nor ear As yet was seen, or felt, or did appear: I was within A house I knew not, newly cloth'd with skin. II Then was my soul my only all to me, A living endless eye, Just bounded with the sky. Whose power, whose act, whose essence, was to see: I was an inward Sphere of Light, Or an interminable Orb of Sight, An endless and a living day, A vital Sun that round about did ray All life, all sense, A naked simple pure Intelligence. III I then no thirst nor hunger did perceive, No dull necessity, No want was known to me; Without disturbance then I did receive The fair ideas of all things, And had the honey even without the stings. A meditating inward eye Gazing at quiet did within me lie, And every thing Delighted me that was their heavenly King. IV For sight inherits beauty, hearing sounds, The nostril sweet perfumes, All tastes have hidden rooms Within the tongue; and feeling wounds With pleasure and delight; but I Forgot the rest, and was all sight or eye: Unbodied and devoid of care, Just as in Heaven the holy Angels are, For simple sense Is Lord of all created excellence. V