Category: PART I

The same motion which from the mouth doth move¹
Runs through the air, which we by echo prove.²
As several letters in one word do join,³
So several figures through the air combine.
The air is wax, words seal, and give the print,           5
And so⁴ an echo in the air do mint.
And while those figures last, they life⁵ maintain;
When motion wears them out, echo is⁶ slain.
As sugar in the mouth doth melt with⁷ taste,
So echo in the air itself doth waste.                             10

¹

Rebounds resisting substance must work on,²
Both in itself, and what it beats upon,³
For yielding bodies which do bow or break
Can ne’er rebound, nor like an⁴ echo speak.
Then every word of aïr forms⁵ a ball,                                      5
And every letter like a ball doth fall.
Words are condensèd air, which heard, do grow
As water which by cold doth turn to snow.
And as when snow is pressed hard balls become,⁶
So words being pressed as balls do backward run.⁷           10

¹

A sound² seems nothing, yet a while it lives,³
And like a wanton lad, mock answers gives,⁴
Not like the souls that from the bodies⁵ go,
For echo hath a body⁶ of air, we know.
But⁷ strange it⁸ is that sounds⁹ so strong and clear              5
Resisting bodies have, yet¹⁰ not appear,
But¹¹ air, which subtle is, encounter may:
Thus words as sounds may with self-echo¹² play.
But they grow weary soon, hold not¹³ out long,
Seem¹⁴ out of breath, and falter with the tongue.               10

A shadow fell in love with the¹ bright light,
Which makes her walk perpetually² in his³ sight.
And when he’s absent, then, poor soul, she dies,
But when he shows himself, her life revives.
She sister is to Echo loud and clear,                           5
Whose voice is heard, but no body⁴ appear.
She hates to see or show herself to men,
Unless Narcissus could live once⁵ again.
But these two souls (for they no bodies have)⁶
Do wander in the air to seek a grave.                       10
Silence would bury one,⁷ the other night;
Both are⁸ denied by Repercussion’s⁹ spite.
And each of these are subject to the sense:¹⁰
One strikes the ear, shadow the eye presents.¹¹

Some think no light would be without the eye;
’Tis true, a light our brain could not descry.
But¹ if the eye makes light, and not the sun,²
As well our touch may make the fire to burn.³

Some learnèd men, which think¹ to reason well,
Say light and color in the brain do dwell,
That motion in the brain doth light beget,²
And if no brain, the world in darkness shut.³
But be it⁴ that the brain hath eyes to see,                           5
Then⁵ eyes and brain would⁶ make the light to be.
If so, poor Donne was out when he did say
If all the world were blind, ’twould still be day.
Say they, light would not in the air⁷ reign,
Unless you’ll grant⁸ the world were one great brain.     10
Some ages in some opinions all agree;⁹
The next doth strive to make them false to be.
But¹⁰ what is new doth all so pleasing sound,¹¹
That reasons old are as mere nonsense found.¹²
But all opinions are by fancy fed,                                        15
And truth lies under those opinions,¹³ dead.

We should those men think mad which should us tell¹
That they did see a sound, or taste a smell.
Yet reason proves a man doth not err much
Whenas he says² his senses all are touch.
If actions in a picture³ be lively⁴ told,                                        5
The brain straight thinks the eye the same⁵ behold.
The stomach hungry, the nose good meat doth⁶ smell;
The brain doth⁷ think that smell the tongue tastes well.
If we a thief do see, and do him⁸ fear,
We straight do think that breaking doors⁹ we hear.              10
Imaginations just like motions make,
That every sense is struck with a¹⁰ mistake.

¹

The eights in music, when they² equal are,
If one be struck, the other seems to jar.
So the heartstrings, if equally be³ stretched
To⁴ those of music, love from thence is fetched.
For when one’s struck, the other moves just so,       5
And with delight as evenly doth go.

Musing one time alone,¹ mine eyes being² fixed
Upon the ground, my sight with gravel mixed,
My feet did walk without direction’s guide;
My thoughts did travel far and wander wide.
At last they chanced upon³ a hill to climb,                                 5
And being there, saw things that were divine.
        First, what⁴ they saw: a glorious light did⁵ blaze,⁶
Whose splendor made it painful for the⁷ gaze.
No separations nor shadows by stops⁸ made,
No darkness did⁹ obstruct this light with shade.                     10
This light had no dimension, nor no bound,¹⁰
No limits, but it¹¹ filled all places round.¹²
Always in motion ’twas,¹³ yet fixed did prove,
Like to the twinkling stars, which never move.
This motion working, running several ways,                           15
Seemed as if contradictions it would¹⁴ raise,
For with itself it seemed not to agree,¹⁵
Like to¹⁶ a skein of thread, if’t knotted be.
For some did go straight in an even line,
But some again did cross, and some did twine.                        20
Yet at the last, all several motions run
Into the first Prime Motion, which begun.
In various forms and shapes did life run through,
Which was eternal, but the shapes were¹⁷ new;
No¹⁸ sooner made, but quickly¹⁹ passed away,                         25
Yet while they were, they did desire²⁰ to stay.
But motion to one form can ne’er constant²¹ be,
For life, which motion is, joys in²² variety.
For the²³ First Motion everything can make,
But cannot add unto itself, nor take.                                           30
Indeed no other matter could it²⁴ frame:
Itself was all, and in itself the same.
Perceiving now this fixèd point of light,
I spied²⁵ a union: Knowledge, Power, and Might,
Wisdom, Truth, Justice,²⁶ Providence, all one,                          35
No attribute was by itself²⁷ alone.
Not like to²⁸ several lines drawn to one point,
For what doth meet may be again²⁹ disjoint.
But this same³⁰ point, from whence all lines did³¹ flow,
Nought can diminish it, or³² make it grow.                               40
’Tis its own center and circumference round,
Yet neither has a limit nor³³ a bound.
A fixed eternity,³⁴ and so will last:
All present is, nothing to come or³⁵ past.
A fixed perfection; nothing can add more;                               45
All things is it, and itself doth³⁶ adore.
My thoughts then wondering at what they did see,
Found at the last themselves the same to be,³⁷
Yet were³⁸ so small a branch, as they³⁹ could not
Know⁴⁰ whence they sprung, nor how they⁴¹ were begot.    50
        Some say, all that⁴² we know of Heaven above
Is that we joy, and that we love.⁴³
But who⁴⁴ can tell that? For all we know,⁴⁵
Those passions we call joy and love below⁴⁶
May by excess such other passions grow;                                  55
None in the world is capable to know.
Just like our bodies, although⁴⁷ they shall rise,
And as St. Paul says, see God with our eyes,⁴⁸
Yet may we in the change such difference find,
Both in our bodies, and also in mind,⁴⁹                                      60
As if we never had been of⁵⁰ mankind,
And that these⁵¹ eyes we see with now were blind.
Say we can measure all the planets high,
And number all the stars be⁵² in the sky,
And we can circle⁵³ all the world about,                                    65
And can find all⁵⁴ th’effects of nature out:⁵⁵
Yet all⁵⁶ the wise and learnèd cannot tell⁵⁷
What’s done in Heaven, or how we there shall dwell.

Each sinew is a small and slender string,¹
Which to the body all the senses bring.²
And they like³ pipes or gutters hollow be,
Where animal spirits run continually.
Though small, yet they⁴ such matter do contain           5
As in the skull doth lie, which we call brain.
That makes if anyone doth strike the heel,
The thought of that sense in the brain doth feel.⁵
Yet ’tis⁶ not sympathy, but ’tis the same⁷
Which makes us think and feel the pain.⁸                     10
For had the heel such quantity of brain
As⁹ doth the head and skull therein contain,
Then would such thoughts, which in the brain dwell high,
Descend down low, and in the heel¹⁰ would lie.
In sinews small, brain scattered lies about;                 15
It wants both room and quantity, no doubt.
For if a sinew so¹¹ much brain could hold,¹²
Or had so large a skin it¹³ to enfold
(As hath¹⁴ the skull), then might the toe or knee,
Had they an optic nerve, both hear and see.               20
Had sinews room fancy therein to breed,
Copies of verses might from the heel¹⁵ proceed.