Sir Walter Raleigh (1554?–1618). Poems. 1892.
XXVI.The Shepherds Praise of his Sacred Diana; before 1593
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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 knights, in whom true honour lives;
Praised be that force, by which she moves the floods;
Let that Diana shine which all these gives.
She mistress-like makes all things to be pure;
Eternity in her oft change she bears;
She beauty is; by her the fair endure.
Mortality below her orb is placed;
By her the virtues of the stars down slide;
In her is virtue’s perfect image cast.
With Circes let them dwell that think not so.