To Thomas Butts

To my friend Butts I write     My first vision of light,     On the yellow sands sitting.     The sun was emitting     His glorious beams     From Heavens high streams.     Over sea, over land,     My eyes did expand     Into regions of air,     Away from all care;     Into regions of fire,     Remote from desire;     The light of the morning     Heavens mountains adorning:     In particles bright,     The jewels of light     Distinct shone and clear.     Amazd and in fear     I each particle gazd,     Astonishd, amazd;     For each was a Man     Human-formd. Swift I ran,     For they beckond to me,     Remote by the sea,     Saying: Each grain of sand,     Every stone on the land,     Each rock and each hill,     Each fountain and rill,     Each herb and each tree,     Mountain, hill, earth, and sea,     Cloud, meteor, and star,     Are men seen afar.     I stood in the streams     Of Heavens bright beams,     And saw Felpham sweet     Beneath my bright feet,     In soft Female charms;     And in her fair arms     My Shadow I knew,     And my wifes Shadow too,     And my sister, and friend.     We like infants descend     In our Shadows on earth,     Like a weak mortal birth.     My eyes, more and more,     Like a sea without shore,     Continue expanding,     The Heavens commanding;     Till the jewels of light,     Heavenly men beaming bright,     Appeard as One Man,     Who complacent began     My limbs to enfold     In His beams of bright gold;     Like dross purgd away     All my mire and my clay.     Soft consumd in delight,     In His bosom sun-bright     I remaind. Soft He smild,     And I heard His voice mild,     Saying: This is My fold,     O thou ram hornd with gold,     Who awakest from sleep     On the sides of the deep.     On the mountains around     The roarings resound     Of the lion and wolf,     The loud sea, and deep gulf.     These are guards of My fold,     O thou ram hornd with gold!     And the voice faded mild;     I remaind as a child;     All I ever had known     Before me bright shone:     I saw you and your wife     By the fountains of life.     Such the vision to me     Appeard on the sea.