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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  508. Moon

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

Henry Rowe. 1750–1819

508. Moon

THEE too, modest tressèd maid, 
  When thy fallen stars appear; 
When in lawn of fire array’d 
  Sov’reign of yon powder’d sphere; 
To thee I chant at close of day,         5
Beneath, O maiden Moon! thy ray. 
 
Throned in sapphired ring supreme, 
  Pregnant with celestial juice, 
On silver wing thy diamond stream 
  Gives what summer hours produce;  10
While view’d impearl’d earth’s rich inlay, 
Beneath, O maiden Moon! thy ray. 
 
Glad, pale Cynthian wine I sip, 
  Breathed the flow’ry leaves among; 
Draughts delicious wet my lip;  15
  Drown’d in nectar drunk my song; 
While tuned to Philomel the lay, 
Beneath, O maiden Moon! thy ray. 
 
Dew, that od’rous ointment yields, 
  Sweets, that western winds disclose,  20
Bathing spring’s more purpled fields, 
  Soft ‘s the band that winds the rose; 
While o’er thy myrtled lawns I stray 
Beneath, O maiden Moon! thy ray.