"Wisest of Beings! What we do design, / And in dark Caverns of our Breast confine"
— Heyrick, Thomas (bap. 1649. d. 1694)
Place of Publication
Cambridge
Publisher
Printed by John Hayes for the Author, And are to be sold by Francis Hicks ... And by Thomas Basset ... and Samuel Heyrick
Date
1691
Metaphor
"Wisest of Beings! What we do design, / And in dark Caverns of our Breast confine"
Metaphor in Context
Wisest of Beings! What we do design,
And in dark Caverns of our Breast confine;
Ev'n where no Thought comes, where no Eye can peep,
But all's lap'd up in misty Clouds of sleep,
What Princes wish, or Cabinet Councils plot,
The Births, that are from their Conjunction got,
Subtlest Interpreter, thou dost reveal;
Thô Oaths and Sanctions do the secret Seal.
Even what Just Heaven before the World decreed,
What can from nothing, but his Hand proceed:
What shall to Peasants happen, what to Kings,
What to the Lofty, what to Humbler things:
What swallows up Man's bold and daring Mind,
And where even Angels can no footsteps find:
What doth surpass th' Intelligences sight,
Or hath, or shall by Thee be brought to Light.
And in dark Caverns of our Breast confine;
Ev'n where no Thought comes, where no Eye can peep,
But all's lap'd up in misty Clouds of sleep,
What Princes wish, or Cabinet Councils plot,
The Births, that are from their Conjunction got,
Subtlest Interpreter, thou dost reveal;
Thô Oaths and Sanctions do the secret Seal.
Even what Just Heaven before the World decreed,
What can from nothing, but his Hand proceed:
What shall to Peasants happen, what to Kings,
What to the Lofty, what to Humbler things:
What swallows up Man's bold and daring Mind,
And where even Angels can no footsteps find:
What doth surpass th' Intelligences sight,
Or hath, or shall by Thee be brought to Light.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "breast" and "cave" in HDIS (Poetry)
Date of Entry
01/18/2006
