NEWS from a foreign country came As if my treasure and my wealth lay there;     So much it did my heart inflame, 'Twas wont to call my Soul into mine ear;         Which thither went to meet             The approaching sweet,         And on the threshold stood     To entertain the unknown Good.             It hover'd there         As if 'twould leave mine ear,     And was so eager to embrace       The joyful tidings as they came,     'Twould almost leave its dwelling-place         To entertain that same.

    As if the tidings were the things, My very joys themselves, my foreign treasure—     Or else did bear them on their wings— With so much joy they came, with so much pleasure.         My Soul stood at that gate             To recreate         Itself with bliss, and to     Be pleased with speed. A fuller view             It fain would take,         Yet journeys back would make     Unto my heart; as if 'twould fain       Go out to meet, yet stay within     To fit a place to entertain         And bring the tidings in.

    What sacred instinct did inspire My soul in childhood with a hope so strong?     What secret force moved my desire To expect my joys beyond the seas, so young?         Felicity I knew             Was out of view,         And being here alone,     I saw that happiness was gone             From me! For this         I thirsted absent bliss,     And thought that sure beyond the seas,       Or else in something near at hand—     I knew not yet—since naught did please         I knew—my Bliss did stand.

    But little did the infant dream That all the treasures of the world were by:     And that himself was so the cream And crown of all which round about did lie.         Yet thus it was: the Gem,             The Diadem,         The ring enclosing all     That stood upon this earthly ball,             The Heavenly eye,         Much wider than the sky,     Wherein they all included were,       The glorious Soul, that was the King     Made to possess them, did appear         A small and little thing!