 | Poems by Bernard Barton |  |
267
SONNET
ON THE BLINDNESS OF MILTON.
“Undeterr'd by the warning
, I seemed to hear the
voice—not of a physician, or from the shrine of Æsculapius at Epidaurus,
but of an internal and more divine monitor.”
Milton's Second Defence.
Oh! who at sleepless nights and toilsome days,
To duty consecrate, would e'er repine?
Though outward strength may day by day decline,
And night by night the taper's glimm'ring rays
Illume a cheek whose healthful bloom decays:
What boots it? if, from its internal shrine,
The wakeful spirit hear a voice divine
Whisper approval passing mortal praise.
Milton! 'twas worthy greatness like thine own
To lend to such high oracle thine ear;
Relinquishing the light of day, though dear,
For that which in thy soul yet brighter shone,
And, glorying in infirmities alone,
To prove how perfect love can cast out fear.
| Poems by Bernard Barton | |