Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden
Abraham Cowley (16181667)Extracts from Verses Written on Several Occasions: Stanzas from The Hymn to Light
T
Dost thy bright wood of stars survey;
And all the year dost with thee bring
Of thousand flow’ry lights thine own nocturnal spring.
The sun’s gilt tent for ever move,
And still as thou in pomp dost go
The shining pageants of the world attend thy show.
The humble glow-worms to adorn,
And with those living spangles gild
(O greatness without pride!) the bushes of the field.
And sleep, the lazy owl of night;
Ashamed and fearful to appear
They screen their horrid shapes with the black hemisphere.
Of painted dreams a busy swarm,
At the first opening of thine eye,
The various clusters break, the antic atoms fly.
Creep conscious to their secret rests:
Nature to thee does reverence pay,
Ill omens and ill sights removes out of thy way.
To shake his wings, and rouse his head,
And cloudy care has often took
A gentle beamy smile reflected from thy look.
Thy sunshine melts away his cold.
Encourag’d at the sight of thee,
To the cheek colour comes, and firmness to the knee.
Out of the morning’s purple bed,
Thy quire of birds about thee play,
And all the joyful world salutes the rising day.
Is but thy sev’ral liveries,
Thou the rich dye on them bestowest,
Thy nimble pencil paints this landscape as thou goest.
A crown of studded gold thou bear’st,
The virgin lilies in their white,
Are clad but with the lawn of almost naked light!