News

News from a foreign country came

As if my treasure and my wealth lay there;

So much it did my heart inflame,

'Twas wont to call my Soul into mine ear;

Which thither went to meet

The approaching sweet,

And on the threshold stood

To entertain the unknown Good.

It hover'd there

As if 'twould leave mine ear,

And was so eager to embrace

The joyful tidings as they came,

'Twould almost leave its dwelling-place

To entertain that same.

As if the tidings were the things,

My very joys themselves, my foreign treasure—

Or else did bear them on their wings—

With so much joy they came, with so much pleasure.

My Soul stood at that gate

To recreate

Itself with bliss, and to

Be pleased with speed. A fuller view

It fain would take,

Yet journeys back would make

Unto my heart; as if 'twould fain

Go out to meet, yet stay within

To fit a place to entertain

And bring the tidings in.

What sacred instinct did inspire

My soul in childhood with a hope so strong?

What secret force moved my desire

To expect my joys beyond the seas, so young?

Felicity I knew

Was out of view,

And being here alone,

I saw that happiness was gone

From me! For this

I thirsted absent bliss,

And thought that sure beyond the seas,

Or else in something near at hand—

I knew not yet—since naught did please

I knew—my Bliss did stand.

But little did the infant dream

That all the treasures of the world were by:

And that himself was so the cream

And crown of all which round about did lie.

Yet thus it was: the Gem,

The Diadem,

The ring enclosing all

That stood upon this earthly ball,