The Wonders of Childhood -- and the Universe

Hello everyone – 

This week, as I celebrate my 55^th birthday, I’d like to share with you three poems that encapsulate the sense of wonder through which I viewed the world when I was growing up. Nurtured by my parents and extended family, teachers at school and at the St. Louis Science Center, my sense of wonder at the world grew with me, as it were, and along with that sense of wonder grew a desire to share what I was learning with those around me. And the rest, as they say, is history – enjoy! 😊

 

“Wonder” by Thomas Traherne (1637-1674)

 

How like an angel came I down!

How bright are all things here!

When first among his works I did appear

O how their glory me did crown!

The world resembled his eternity,

In which my soul did walk;

And everything that I did see

Did with me talk.

 

The skies in their magnificence,

The lively, lovely air;

Oh how divine, how soft, how sweet, how fair!

The stars did entertain my sense,

And all the works of God, so bright and pure,

So rich and great did seem,

As if they ever must endure

In my esteem.

 

A native health and innocence

Within my bones did grow,

And while my God did all his glories show,

I felt a vigor in my sense

That was all spirit. I within did flow

With seas of life, like wine;

I nothing in the world did know

But 'twas divine.

 

Harsh ragged objects were concealed,

Oppressions tears and cries,

Sins, griefs, complaints, dissensions, weeping eyes

Were hid, and only things revealed

Which heavenly spirits, and the angels prize.

The state of innocence

And bliss, not trades and poverties,

Did fill my sense.

 

The streets were paved with golden stones,

The boys and girls were mine,

Oh how did all their lovely faces shine!

The sons of men were holy ones,

In joy and beauty they appeared to me,

And everything which here I found,

While like an angel I did see,

Adorned the ground.

 

Rich diamond and pearl and gold

In every place was seen;

Rare splendors, yellow, blue, red, white and green,

Mine eyes did everywhere behold.

Great wonders clothed with glory did appear,

Amazement was my bliss,

That and my wealth was everywhere:

No joy to this!

 

Cursed and devised proprieties,

With envy, avarice

And fraud, those fiends that spoil even Paradise,

Flew from the splendor of mine eyes,

And so did hedges, ditches, limits, bounds,

I dreamed not aught of those,

But wandered over all men's grounds,

And found repose.

 

Proprieties themselves were mine,

And hedges ornaments;

Walls, boxes, coffers, and their rich contents

Did not divide my joys, but all combine.

Clothes, ribbons, jewels, laces, I esteemed

My joys by others worn:

For me they all to wear them seemed

When I was born.

 

“Thoughts on the Sight of the Moon”

By Sarah Kemble Knight (1704)

 

Fair Cynthia, all the Homage that I may

Unto a Creature, unto thee I pay;

In Lonesome woods to meet so kind a guide,

To Mee's more worth than all the world beside.

Some Joy I felt just now, when safe got or'e

Yon Surly River to this Rugged shore,

Deeming Rough welcomes from these clownish Trees,

Better than Lodgings with Nereidees.

Yet swelling fears surprise; all dark appears—

Nothing but Light can dissipate those fears.

My fainting vitals can't lend strength to say,

But softly whisper, O I wish 'twere day.

The murmur hardly warmed the Ambient air,

Ere thy Bright Aspect rescues from despair:

Makes the old Hagg her sable mantle loose,

And a Bright Joy do's through my Soul diffuse.

The Boistero's Trees now Lend a Passage Free,

And pleasant prospects thou giv'st light to see.

 

“To the Stars”

By William B. Tappan (1794-1849)

 

Fair stars! upon the brow of night

Ye look, from yonder fields of blue,

Where ye, ‘mid melody of light,

Bright wheeling worlds! your way pursue.

 

Ye never tire,–pure diadems,

The marshalled sentinels on high,

Ye shine, and ever shine, the gems

That fringe the curtain of the sky.

 

Minstrels are ye–your early song

Followed the Voice Omnipotent,

When light and music flowed along

Over the spangled firmament.

 

Ye stars! if aught ’tis yours to know,

Beyond your own returnless bourne,

With pity have ye not below

Glanced on these vales where mortals mourn?

 

O, as I scan your nightly march,

Your anthems steal upon mine ears;

As sprinkled o’er yon glittering arch,

Ye wake the music of the spheres.

 

‘Tis fancy!–yet the empyrean strains

Impart kind Gilead to my breast;

They tell of brighter, fairer plains,

Where troubles cease, where pilgrims rest.

 

The Milky Way Galaxy – our home in the vast Universe – as seen through the infrared sensors of the Spitzer Space Telescope. (Photo Credit: NASA – Public Domain)

 

Until next time – keep looking up! 😊

Rob