Classic Poem

Hymn to Light

Thou tide of glory which no rest dost know,
But ever ebb and ever flow!
Thou golden shower of a true Jove!
Who does in thee descend, and Heav'n to earth make love.

Say from what golden quivers of the sky,
Do all thy winged arrows fly?
Swiftness and power by birth are thine:
From thy great sire they came, thy sire the word Divine.

Thou in the moon's bright chariot proud and gay,
Dost thy bright wood of stars survey;
And all the year dost with thee bring
Of thousand flowry lights thine own nocturnal spring.

Thou Scythian-like dost round thy lands above
The Sun's gilt tent for ever move,
And still as thou in pomp do'st go,
The shining pageants of the world attend thy show.

When, goddess, thou lift'st up thy wak'ned head,
Out of the morning's purple bed,
Thy quire of birds about thee play,
And all the joyful world salutes the rising day.

All the world's brav'ry that delights our eyes
Is but thy sev'ral liveries,
Thou the rich dye on them bestow'st;
Thy nimble pencil paints this landscape as thou go'st.

A crimson garment in the rose thou wear'st;
A crown of studded gold thou bear'st;
The virgin lillies in their white,
Are clad but with the lawn of almost naked light.

With flame condens'd thou do'st thy jewels fix,
And solid colours in it mix:
Flora herself envies to see
Flowers fairer than her own, and durable as she.

Through the soft wayes of Heav'n, and air, and sea,
Which open all their pores to Thee,
Like a clear river thou do'st glide,
And with thy living stream through the close channels slide.

But the vast ocean of unbounded day
In th' empyraean Heaven does stay.
Thy rivers, lakes, and springs below,
From thence took first their rise, thither at last must flow.English