Did in pure love descend To die here for thy sake; There grows the flower of peace, CIX. HEY are all gone into the world of light! THE And I alone sit lingering here; Their very memory is fair and bright, It glows and glitters in my cloudy breast, Or those faint beams in which this hill is dressed, I see them walking in an air of glory, Whose light doth trample on my days; My days, which are at best but dull and hoary, Mere glimmering and decays. O holy hope! and high humility, High as the heavens above! These are your walks, and you have shewed them me To kindle my cold love. Dear, beauteous death! the jewel of the just, What mysteries do lie beyond thy dust; He that hath found some fledged bird's nest, may know At first sight, if the bird be flown; But what fair well or grove he sings in now, And yet, as angels in some brighter dreams Call to the soul, when man doth sleep; So some strange thoughts transcend our wonted themes, And into glory peep. If a star were confined into a tomb Her captive flames must needs burn there; O father of eternal life, and all Created glories under thee! Resume thy spirit from this world of thrall Either disperse these mists, which blot and fill Or else remove me hence unto that hill, CX. THOMAS STANLEY, 1625?-1678. O THE RELAPSE. H turn away those cruel eyes, Or death in such a bright disguise May tempt a second wooing. Punish their blind and impious pride, It was my fall that deified Thy name, and sealed thy story. Yet no new sufferings can prepare Lovers will doubt thou canst entice No other for thy fuel, And if thou burn one victim twice, Both think thee poor and cruel. CXI. JOHN DRYDEN, 1631-1700. SONG TO A FAIR YOUNG LADY, GOING OUT OF TOWN IN THE SPRING. A SK not the cause why sullen spring So long delays her flowers to bear; Why warbling birds forget to sing, Chloris is gone, the cruel fair; She cast not back a pitying eye: To sigh, to languish, and to die: Great god of love, why hast thou made A face that can all hearts command, And change the laws of every land? |