Shadows in the Water

Summary

In unexperienc'd Infancy

Many a sweet Mistake doth ly:

Mistake tho false, intending tru;

A Seeming somwhat more than View;

That doth instruct the Mind

In Things that ly behind,

And many Secrets to us show

Which afterwards we com to know.

Thus did I by the Water's brink

Another World beneath me think;

And while the lofty spacious Skies

Reversed there abus'd mine Eys,

I fancy'd other Feet

Came mine to touch or meet;

As by som Puddle I did play

Another World within it lay.

Beneath the Water Peeple drown'd,

Yet with another Hev'n crown'd,

In spacious Regions seem'd to go

As freely moving to and fro:

In bright and open Space

I saw their very face;

Eys, Hands, and Feet they had like mine;

Another Sun did with them shine.

'Twas strange that Peeple there should walk,

And yet I could not hear them talk:

That throu a little watry Chink,

Which one dry Ox or Horse might drink,

We other Worlds should see,

Yet not admitted be;

And other Confines there behold

Of Light and Darkness, Heat and Cold.

I call'd them oft, but call'd in vain;

No Speeches we could entertain:

Yet did I there expect to find

Som other World, to pleas my Mind.

I plainly saw by these

A new Antipodes,

Whom, tho they were so plainly seen,

A Film kept off that stood between.

By walking Men's reversed Feet

I chanc'd another World to meet;

Tho it did not to View exceed

A Phantasm, 'tis a World indeed,

Where Skies beneath us shine,

And Earth by Art divine

Another face presents below,

Where Peeple's feet against Ours go.

Within the Regions of the Air,

Compass'd about with Hev'ns fair,

Great Tracts of Land there may be found

Enricht with Fields and fertil Ground;

Where many num'rous Hosts,

In those far distant Coasts,

For other great and glorious Ends,

Inhabit, my yet unknown Friends.