 | Poems (1892) |  |
XXVI. THE SHEPHERD'S PRAISE OF HIS SACRED DIANA.
Before 1593.)
Praised be Diana's fair and harmless light;
Praised be the dews wherewith she moists the ground;
Praised be her beams, the glory of the night;
Praised be her power, by which all powers abound.
Praised be the dews wherewith she moists the ground;
Praised be her beams, the glory of the night;
Praised be her power, by which all powers abound.
Praised be her nymphs, with whom she decks the woods;
Praised be her knights, in whom true honour lives;
Praised be that force, by which she moves the floods;
Let that Diana shine which all these gives.
Praised be her knights, in whom true honour lives;
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Let that Diana shine which all these gives.
In heaven queen she is among the spheres;
She mistress-like makes all things to be pure;
Eternity in her oft change she bears;
She beauty is; by her the fair endure.
She mistress-like makes all things to be pure;
Eternity in her oft change she bears;
She beauty is; by her the fair endure.
Time wears her not; she doth his chariot guide;
Mortality below her orb is placed;
By her the virtues of the stars down slide;
In her is virtue's perfect image cast.
Mortality below her orb is placed;
By her the virtues of the stars down slide;
In her is virtue's perfect image cast.
A knowledge pure it is her worth to know:
With Circes let them dwell that think not so.
With Circes let them dwell that think not so.
[S. W. R.] Ignoto.
| Poems (1892) | |