Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ADMIRATION, by THOMAS TRAHERNE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ADMIRATION, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Can human shape so taking be
Last Line: Is thus admired like a deity!
Subject(s): Admiration; Bodies


1

Can human shape so taking be,
That angels come and sip
Ambrosia from a mortal lip!
Can cherubims descend with joy to see
God in His works beneath!
Can mortals breathe
Felicity!
Can bodies fill the heavenly rooms
With welcome odours and perfumes!
Can earth-bred flowers adorn celestial bowers
Or yield such fruits as please the heavenly powers!

2

Then may the seas with amber flow;
The earth a star appear;
Things be divine and heavenly here.
The Tree of Life in Paradise may grow
Among us now: the sun
Be overcome
With beams that show
More bright than his: celestial mirth
May yet inhabit all this earth.
It cannot be! Can mortals be so blind?
Have joys so near them, which they never mind?

3

The lily and the rosy-train
Which, scatter'd on the ground,
Salute the feet which they surround,
Grow for thy sake, O man; that like a chain
Or garland they may be
To deck even thee:
They all remain
Thy gems; and bowing down their head
Their liquid pearl they kindly shed
In tears; as if they meant to wash thy feet,
For joy that they to serve thee are made meet.

4

The sun doth smile, and looking down
From Heaven doth blush to see
Himself excelled here by thee:
Yet frankly doth disperse his beams that crown
A creature so divine;
He loves to shine,
Nor lets a frown
Eclipse his brow, because he gives
Light for the use of one that lives
Above himself. Lord! What is man that he
Is thus admired like a deity!





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