Occasional Verses of Edward Lord Herbert, Baron of Cherbery and Castle-Island Deceased in August, 1648 |
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To her Hair.
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 | Occasional Verses of Edward Lord Herbert, Baron of Cherbery and Castle-Island |  |
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To her Hair.
Black beamy hairs, which so seem to arise
From the extraction of those eyes,
That into you she destin-like doth spin
The beams she spares, what time her soul retires,
And by those hallow'd fires,
Keeps house all night within.
From the extraction of those eyes,
That into you she destin-like doth spin
The beams she spares, what time her soul retires,
And by those hallow'd fires,
Keeps house all night within.
Since from within her awful front you shine,
As threads of life which she doth twine,
And thence ascending with the fatal rays,
Do crown those temples, where Love's wonders wrought
We afterwards see brought
To vulgar light and praise.
As threads of life which she doth twine,
And thence ascending with the fatal rays,
Do crown those temples, where Love's wonders wrought
We afterwards see brought
To vulgar light and praise.
Lighten through all your regions, till we find
The causes why we are grown blind,
That when we should your Glories comprehend
Our sight recoils, and turneth back again,
And doth, as 'twere in vain,
It self to you extend.
The causes why we are grown blind,
That when we should your Glories comprehend
Our sight recoils, and turneth back again,
And doth, as 'twere in vain,
It self to you extend.
Is it, because past black, there is not found
A fix'd or horizontal bound?
And so as it doth terminate the white,
It may be said all colours to infold,
And in that kind to hold
Somewhat of infinite?
A fix'd or horizontal bound?
And so as it doth terminate the white,
It may be said all colours to infold,
And in that kind to hold
Somewhat of infinite?
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Or is it, that the centre of our sight
Being vailed in its proper night
Discerns your blackness by some other sense,
Then that by which it doth py'd colours see,
Which only therefore be
Known by their difference?
Being vailed in its proper night
Discerns your blackness by some other sense,
Then that by which it doth py'd colours see,
Which only therefore be
Known by their difference?
Tell us, when on her front in curls you lye
So diapred from that black eye,
That your reflected forms may make us know
That shining light in darkness all would find,
Were they not upward blind
With the Sun beams below.
So diapred from that black eye,
That your reflected forms may make us know
That shining light in darkness all would find,
Were they not upward blind
With the Sun beams below.
| Occasional Verses of Edward Lord Herbert, Baron of Cherbery and Castle-Island | |