| Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917. |
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| 41. Quickness |
| By Henry Vaughan (1621–1695) |
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| FALSE life! a foil and no more, when | |
| Wilt thou be gone? | |
| Thou foul deception of all men | |
| That would not have the true come on. | |
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| Thou art a Moon-like toil; a blinde | 5 |
| Self-posing state; | |
| A dark contest of waves and winde; | |
| A meer tempestuous debate. | |
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| Life is a fix’d, discerning light, | |
| A knowing Joy; | 10 |
| No chance, or fit: but ever bright, | |
| And calm and full, yet doth not cloy. | |
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| ’Tis such a blissful thing, that still | |
| Doth vivifie, | |
| And shine and smile, and hath the skill | 15 |
| To please without Eternity. | |
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| Thou art a toylsom Mole, or less | |
| A moving mist | |
| But life is, what none can express, | |
| A quickness, which my God hath kist. | 20 |
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