| Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917. |
| |
| 34. The Search |
| By Henry Vaughan (1621–1695) |
| |
| LEAVE, leave, thy gadding thoughts; | |
| Who Pores | |
| and spies | |
| Still out of Doores, | |
| descries | 5 |
| Within them nought. | |
| |
| The skinne, and shell of things | |
| Though faire, | |
| are not | |
| Thy wish, nor pray’r, | 10 |
| but got | |
| By meer Despair | |
| of wings. | |
| |
| To rack old Elements, | |
| or Dust | 15 |
| and say | |
| Sure here he must | |
| needs stay, | |
| Is not the way, | |
| nor just. | 20 |
| Search well another world; who studies this, | |
| Travels in Clouds, seeks Manna, where none is. | |
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