Thomas Traherne(1637–1674)
Shadows in the Water
In unexperienced 0 infancyinexperienced
Many a sweet mistake doth lie:
Mistake though false, intending 0 true;directing to
A seeming somewhat more than view;3
That doth instruct the mind
In things that lie behind,
And many secrets to us show
Which afterwards we come to know.
Thus did I by the water's brink
Another world beneath me think;
And while the lofty spacious skies
Reversed there, abused mine eyes,
I fancied other feet
Came mine to touch or meet;
As by some puddle I did play
Another world within it lay.
Beneath the water people drowned,
Yet with another heaven crowned,
In spacious regions seemed to go
As freely moving to and fro:
In bright and open space
I saw their very face;
Eyes, hands, and feet they had like mine;
Another sun did with them shine.
'Twas strange that people there should walk,
And yet I could not hear them talk:
That through a little watery chink,
Which one dry ox or horse might drink,
We other worlds should see,
Yet not admitted be;
A n d other c o n f i n e s there b e h o l d
Of light a n d d a r k n e s s , heat a n d cold.
I called t h e m oft, but called in vain;
N o s p e e c h e s w e c o u l d entertain:
Yet did I there expect to find
S o m e other world, to p l e a s e my m i n d .
I plainly saw by these
A n e w a n t i p o d e s , 4
W h o m , t h o u g h they were so plainly seen,
A film kept off that stood between.
By walking m e n ' s reversed feet
I c h a n c e d a n o t h e r world to m e e t ;
T h o u g h it did not to view e x c e e d
A p h a n t o m , 'tis a world indeed,
W h e r e skies b e n e a t h us shine,
A n d earth by art divine
A n o t h e r f a c e p r e s e n t s below,
W h e r e people's feet against ours go.
Within the regions of the air,
C o m p a s s e d a b o u t with h e a v e n s fair,
G r e a t tracts of land there m a y be f o u n d
E n r i c h e d with fields a n d fertile g r o u n d ;
W h e r e m a n y n u m e r o u s hosts
In t h o s e far distant c o a s t s ,
F o r other great a n d glorious e n d s
Inhabit, my yet u n k n o w n friends.
ye that s t a n d u p o n the brink,
W h o m I so near me t h r o u g h the chink
W i t h w o n d e r see: what f a c e s there,
W h o s e feet, w h o s e bodies, do ye wear
I my c o m p a n i o n s s e e
In you, a n o t h e r m e .
T h e y s e e m e d others, but are we;
O u r s e c o n d selves t h e s e s h a d o w s be.
L o o k h o w far off those lower skies
E x t e n d themselves! s c a r c e with m i n e eyes
c a n t h e m reach. O ye my friends,
W h a t secret borders o n those e n d s ?
Are lofty h e a v e n s hurled
' B o u t your inferior world
Are yet the representatives
Of other p e o p l e s ' distant lives
Of all the p l a y m a t e s which I k n e w
T h a t here I do the i m a g e view
In other selves, what c a n it m e a n ?
But that below the purling 0 streamswirling; murmuring
Some unknown joys there be
Laid up in store for me;
To which I shall, when that thin skin
Is broken, be admitted in.
ca. 16651910