The Mind

Nosce Teipsum: An Acclamation

by Sir John Davies 1569–1626

From Complete Poems, ed. Grosart (1876)

The Mind

O! what is Man (great Maker of mankind!)
That Thou to him so great respect dost beare!
That Thou adornst him with so bright a mind,
Mak'st him a king, and euen an angel's peere!

O! what a liuely life, what heauenly power,
What spreading vertue, what a sparkling fire!
How great, how plentifull, how rich a dower
Dost Thou within this dying flesh inspire!

Thou leau'st Thy print in other works of Thine,
But Thy whole image Thou in Man hast writ;
There cannot be a creature more diuine,
Except (like Thee) it should be infinit.

But it exceeds man's thought, to thinke how hie
God hath raisd Man, since God a man became;
The angels doe admire this Misterie,
And are astonisht when they view the same.

MLA

Davies, John. “Nosce Teipsum: An Acclamation.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/davies/66/.

Chicago

Davies, John. “Nosce Teipsum: An Acclamation.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/davies/66/.

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