Henry Vaughan > Quotes

“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,
Driv'n by the spheres
Like a vast shadow mov'd; in which the world
And all her train were hurl'd.”
― Henry Vaughan

“I saw Eternity the other night
Like a great Ring of pure and endless light.”
― Henry Vaughan

“There is in God (some say) a deep but dazzling darkness.”
― Henry Vaughan

“And here in the dust and dirt, O here, the lilies of His love appear.”
― Henry Vaughan

“The Dawning

Ah! what time wilt Thou come? when shall that cry,
The Bridegroom’s coming! fill the sky;
Shall it in the evening run
When our words and works are done?
Or will Thy all-surprising light
Break at midnight,
When either sleep or some dark pleasure
Possesseth mad man without measure?
Or shall these early, fragrant hours
Unlock Thy bow’rs,
And with their blush of light descry
Thy locks crown’d with eternity?
Indeed, it is the only time
That with Thy glory doth best chime;
All now are stirring, ev’ry field
Full hymns doth yield;
The whole Creation shakes off night,
And for Thy shadow looks the light;
Stars now vanish without number,
Sleepy Planets set and slumber,
The pursy Clouds disband and scatter,
All expect some sudden matter;
Not one beam triumphs but from far
That morning-star;

O at what time soever thou
(Unknown to us,) the heavens wilt bow,
And, with Thy angels in the van,
Descend to judge poor careless man,
Grant, I may not like puddle lie
In a corrupt security,
Where if a traveller water crave,
He finds it dead, and in a grave.
But as this restless, vocal spring
All day and night doth run, and sing,
And though here born, yet is acquainted
Elsewhere, and flowing keeps untainted;
So let me all my busy age
In Thy free services engage;
And though (while here) of force I must
Have commerce sometimes with poor dust,
And in my flesh, though vile and low,
As this doth in her channel flow,
Yet let my course, my aim, my love,
And chief acquaintance be above;
So when that day and hour shall come,
In which Thyself will be the sun,
Thou’lt find me drest and on my way,
Watching the break of Thy great day.”
― Henry Vaughan

“There is in God a deep but dazzling darkness.”
― Henry Vaughan

“Happy those early days! when I
Shined in my angel-infancy,
Before I understood this place
Appointed for my second race1,
Or taught my soul to fancy ought
But a white, celestial thought;
When yet I had not walked above
A mile or two from my first love,
And looking back—at that short space—
Could see a glimpse of His bright face;
When on some gilded cloud, or flower,
My gazing soul would dwell an hour,
And in those weaker glories spy
Some shadows of eternity;
Before I taught my tongue to wound
My conscience with a sinful sound,
Or had the black art to dispense
A several2 sin to every sense,
But felt through all this fleshy dress
Bright shoots of everlastingness.
Oh how I long to travel back,
And tread again that ancient track!
That I might once more reach that plain,
Where first I left my glorious train3;
From whence the enlightened spirit sees
That shady city of palm trees4.
But ah! my soul with too much stay5
Is drunk, and staggers in the way.
Some men a forward motion love,
But I by backward steps would move
And when this dust falls to the urn,
In that state I came, return.”
― Henry Vaughan

“There is in God, some say
A deep but dazzling darkness...
O for that night, that I in Him
Might live invisible and dim.”
― Henry Vaughan, The Works of Henry Vaughan; Volume 1

“I saw Eternity the other night,
Like a great ring of pure and endless light,
All calm, as it was bright;”
― Henry Vaughan

“There is in God, some say,
A deep but dazzling darkness, as men here
Say it is late and dusky, because they
See not all clear.
O for that night! where I in Him
Might live invisible and dim!”
― Henry Vaughan

“He that hath found some fledg’d bird’s nest, may know
At first sight, if the bird be flown;
But what fair well or grove he sings in now,
That is to him unknown”
― Henry Vaughan, Henry Vaughan: The Complete Poems