Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE VOYAGE, by JOSEPH BEAUMONT


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE VOYAGE, by                    
First Line: Could I but be / perpetuallie
Last Line: Another voyage make to hell.
Subject(s): Explorers; God; Hell; Self; Temptation; Exploring; Discovery; Discoverers


COULD I but be
Perpetuallie
The man I was ye other Day:
No Name of fear
How fierce so e'r
Mee from my Selfe could fright away.

No haven, say I,
To Privacy:
When once my labouring Heart gat thither,
My calmed Breast
Floated in Rest,
And feard no furie of fowle weather:

There did I see
All things agree
In ye Sweet Centre of Gods Will;
Where had I cast
My Anchor, fast
And sure had been my Vessell still.

But foolish I
Went by & by
To hoise my tattered Saile againe,
Unrigg'd, unman'd,
I put from land
Into ye Worlds tempestuous Maine.

The flattering Sea
Kept truce wth Mee
A while, & least my Spirits should faile,
Gently behind
Came every Wind
And puff'd me up more then my Saile.

Smoothe was my way,
And I most gay
Went on, top and top-gallant fine:
I swum in pleasure
At ease and leisure,
And never thought the Sea was brine.

Thus did I ride
O'r Time & Tide
Till far ingaged in the Maine,
That libertie
Inclosed Mee
Fast Pris'ner in ye boundlesse Plaine.

When loe a Clowd
Began to crowd
Day out of Heavn, & my poor sight:
I look'd, but I
Could not descry
Ought, but a strange Meridian Night.

Before I would not,
And now I could not
Behold that Heavn, which hid its face
From Me, as I
Before did my
From it, & its all-sweetning grace.

The treacherous Wind
Was soon combind
With ye false waves to mock poor Me,
Tossing Me high,
Ev'n to ye skie,
Which well it knew I could not see.

Then down I fell
As low as Hell;
Alas both bottom lesse were found,
The Sea & my
Vast Miserie,
Where I a thousand times was drown'd.

Still mutinous Passions
In sundry fashions
Toss'd me about from Wave to Wave;
Still anxious Cares
And helpless feares
Perplex'd Alarms & Onsets gave.

Till at ye last
Their furie cast
Me on a Rock & split me quite:
A thousand Men
And yet not one
Was I, a most distracted Wight.

No help alas
For me there was
From those vexatious Vanities
Which fild ye World;
They onely hurl'd
Vain froath & foam into mine eyes.

Trust me no more
For I am poore
Cry'd heavy Gold; Much lower I
Shall make you sink;
You must not think
That money true Content will buy.

Then Pleasure cries
Turne back thine eyes,
Thy hankering eyes; No help dwells heer:
Although my skin
Be fair, within
Live Anguish, Rottennesse, & fear.

Nay all this All,
Which We miscall,
Shrunk to its Nothing, & spake true,
In Mee you must
Not look to trust,
Who am as poor & weak as you.

And must I die
False Freinds, said I
Whilst You look on? This Vessell Heer
Grieves me not much
But oh I grutch
Too loose ye Jewell it doth beare:

A richer one
Then ever shone
In Princes Crowne: Far more it cost
Then You, all You
Are worth; & know
It is a Soule: Must That be lost?

Heer did I faint
But my Complaint
Mov'd a good Friend, whose Love did buy
That Gemm for Mee:
Propitious Hee
Pitty'd my helplesse Miserie,

I had done thinking,
And now was sinking,
When loe He brings a peece of Wood:
Hold fast on this,
Said He, it is
Thine Ark against ye worlds vast Flood.

This was ye Tree
Of Life to Mee:
Much like an Anchor was its frame;
A Tree of Rest
All sweet, all blest
A Crosse in Nothing but its Name.

I held it fast
And easily past
The tamed Waves: The boistrous Winde
Now blew away
It selfe, & Day
Ypon ye Smoothed Ocean shinde.

An Heavnly Blast
Made gracious hast,
And filld my Weather-beaten Sail;
The Spirit of Love
Me gently drove
Gainst whom no Ocean may prevaile.

And as ye Land
Grew neer at hand,
Behold, said Hee, ye trustie Shore.
Wouldst Thou be sure
To rest secure?
Venture into ye Main no more:

Or sail wth Mee
In ye Sweet Sea,
Whose everlasting streams doe flow
Above ye Sphears,
Where never fears
Did rise, nor treacherous Tempests blow.

Thus did I come
All shipwrack'd home
Unto my Selfe: & there must dwell
Private and still,
Unlesse I will
Another Voyage make to Hell.





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