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Thomas Campion

Devotion

i

FOLLOW thy fair sun, unhappy shadow!
    Though thou be black as night,
    And she made all of light,
Yet follow thy fair sun, unhappy shadow!

Follow her, whose light thy light depriveth!
    Though here thou liv'st disgraced,
    And she in heaven is placed,
Yet follow her whose light the world reviveth!

Follow those pure beams, whose beauty burneth!
    That so have scorched thee
    As thou still black must be,
Till her kind beams thy black so brightness turneth.

Follow her, while yet her glory shineth!
    There comes a luckless night
    That will dim all her light;
And this the black unhappy shade divineth.

Follow still, since so thy fates ordained!
    The sun must have his shade,
    Till both at once do fade,—
The sun still proud, the shadow still disdained.

About the poet

Thomas Campion
1567?-1619

 
By the same poet
Winter Nights
Cherry-Ripe
Laura
Devotion (ii)
Vobiscum est Iope
A Hymn in Praise of Neptune
Integer Vitae
O come quickly!
 
Related books
Thomas Campion at amazon.co.uk

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