Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WORLD (1), by HENRY VAUGHAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WORLD (1), by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I saw eternity the other night
Last Line: But for his bride.
Alternate Author Name(s): Silurist
Variant Title(s): A Vision
Subject(s): Bible; Christianity; Earth; Freedom; Future Life; Mankind; Religion; World; Liberty; Retribution; Eternity; After Life; Human Race; Theology


I saw Eternity the other night,
Like a great ring of pure and endless light,
All calm, as it was bright;
And round beneath it, time in hours, days, years,
Driven by the spheres
Like a vast shadow moved; in which the world
And all her train were hurled:
The doting lover in his quaintest strain
Did there complain;
Near him, his lute, his fancy, and his flights,
Wit's sour delights,
With gloves and knots, the silly snares of pleasure,
Yet his dear treasure,
All scattered lay, while he his eyes did pour
Upon a flower.

The darksome statesman, hung with weights and woe,
Like a thick midnight-fog, moved there so slow,
He did not stay, nor go;
Condemning thoughts, like sad eclipses, scowl
Upon his soul,
And clouds of crying witnesses without
Pursued him with one shout;
Yet digged the mole, and lest his ways be found
Worked underground,
Where he did clutch his prey, but One did see
That policy;
Churches and altars fed him; perjuries
Were gnats and flies;
It rained about him blood and tears, but he
Drank them as free.

The fearful miser on a heap of rust
Sat pining all his life there, did scarce trust
His own hands with the dust,
Yet would not place one piece above, but lives
In fear of thieves.
Thousands there were as frantic as himself,
And hugged each one his pelf:
The downright epicure placed heav'n in sense,
And scorned pretense;
While others, slipped into a wide excess,
Said little less;
The weaker sort slight trivial wares enslave,
Who think them brave;
And poor, despised Truth sat counting by
Their victory.

Yet some, who all this while did weep and sing,
And sing and weep, soared up into the ring;
But most would use no wing.
O fools, said I, thus to prefer dark night
Before true light!
To live in grots and caves, and hate the day
Because it shows the way;
The way which from this dead and dark abode
Leads up to God;
A way where you might tread the sun, and be
More bright than he!
But as I did their madness so discuss,
One whispered thus:
This ring the Bridegroom did for none provide
But for His bride.







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