Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft (1581–1647)

Translated by Edmund Gosse

GREAT soul, that with the keenness of clear sight

Just measure takest of approaching things,

Yet by the wisdom that high memory brings

Dost hold full judgment of all past years’ flight,

What God or man in counsel or of right

May speak, thou can’st expound; from thee light springs;

Thou art the eye of Holland; when storm rings

In starless weather, thou dost lift thy light.

Sun of our sphere, how shall I liken you?

Art thou a blast that God from heaven out-blew,

Come to our hearts, to find them well prepared?

Or, from the roofs of paradise, a spirit,

Dowered with all skill that sons of light inherit,

Whose wit and power our earth with heaven have shared?

Sept. 3, 1616.