The Pearl

[Guest guest]

Dear all,

 

remember George Herbert, a 17th century Christian author and poet? I

recently came across two small, leather-bound volumes containing his

collected works, in an edition printed around 1850, and found them quite

enchanting. A brief biography of this lovable singer of devotion and Divine

love can be found at

http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/herbert/

 

Here is his best-known poem, "The Pearl", for you to read or re-read.

 

Enjoy!

 

Michael

 

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The Pearl (Matthew XIII)

 

I know the ways of learning, both the head

And pipes that feed the press and make it run;

What reason hath from nature borrowéd,

Or of itself, like a good huswife, spun

In laws and policy; what the stars conspire;

What willing nature speaks, what forc'd by fire;

Both th'old discoveries and the new-found seas,

The stock and surplus, cause and history;

All these stand open, or I have the keys:

Yet I love Thee.

 

I know the ways of honor; what maintains

The quick returns of courtesy and wit;

In vies of favours whether party gains

When glory swells the heart, and moldeth it

To all expression, both of hand and eye,

Which on the world a true-love knot may tie,

And bear the bundle wheresoe'er it goes;

How many drams of spirit there must be

To sell my life unto my friends or foes:

Yet I love Thee.

 

I know the ways of pleasure; the sweet strains

The lullings and the relishes of it;

The propositions of hot blood and brains;

What mirth and music mean; what love and wit

Have done these twenty hundred years and more;

I know the projects of unbridled store;

My stuff is flesh, not brass; my senses live,

And grumble oft that they have more in me

Than he that curbs them, being but one to five:

Yet I love thee.

 

 

I know all these, and have them in my hand;

Therefore not sealéd but with open eyes

I fly to Thee, and fully understand

Both the main sale and the commodities;

And at what rate and price I have Thy love,

With all the circumstances that may move.

Yet through the labyrinths, not my groveling wit,

But Thy silk twist let down from heav'n to me,

Did both conduct and teach me how by it

To climb to Thee.

 

-- George Herbert (1593-1633)