Walking by Thomas Traherne

Walking

BY THOMAS TRAHERNE

To walk abroad is, not with eyes,
But thoughts, the fields to see and prize;

         Else may the silent feet,
                Like logs of wood,
Move up and down, and see no good

         Nor joy nor glory meet.

Ev’n carts and wheels their place do change,

But cannot see, though very strange

         The glory that is by;

                Dead puppets may

Move in the bright and glorious day,

         Yet not behold the sky.

And are not men than they more blind,

Who having eyes yet never find

         The bliss in which they move;

                Like statues dead

They up and down are carried

         Yet never see nor love.

To walk is by a thought to go;

To move in spirit to and fro;

         To mind the good we see;

                To taste the sweet;

Observing all the things we meet

         How choice and rich they be.

To note the beauty of the day,

And golden fields of corn survey;

         Admire each pretty flow’r

                With its sweet smell;

To praise their Maker, and to tell

         The marks of his great pow’r.

To fly abroad like active bees,

Among the hedges and the trees,

         To cull the dew that lies

                On ev’ry blade,

From ev’ry blossom; till we lade

         Our minds, as they their thighs.

Observe those rich and glorious things,

The rivers, meadows, woods, and springs,

         The fructifying sun;

                To note from far

The rising of each twinkling star

         For us his race to run.

A little child these well perceives,

Who, tumbling in green grass and leaves,

         May rich as kings be thought,

                But there’s a sight

Which perfect manhood may delight,

         To which we shall be brought.

While in those pleasant paths we talk,

’Tis that tow’rds which at last we walk;

         For we may by degrees

                Wisely proceed

Pleasures of love and praise to heed,

         From viewing herbs and trees.

Traherne 1636-1674 was a poet and mystic who influenced many.
The stained glass windows to celebrate his work are by Tom Denny and were installed in Hereford cathedral in 2007.