YOU modern Wits, who call this world a Star, Who say, the other planets too worlds are, And that the spots, that in the midst are found, Are to the people there islands and ground; And that the water, which surrounds the earth, Reflects to each, and gives their shining birth; The brightness of these tears had you but seen Fall'n from her eyes, no argument had been, To contradict, that water here displays To them, as they to us, siderious rays. Her tears have, than the stars, a better right, And a more clear propriety to light. For stars receive their borrow'd beams from far; These bring their own along with them, and are Born in the sphere of light. Others may blind Themselves with weeping much, because they spend The brightness of their eyes upon their tears; But hers are inexhaustible; she spares Beams to her tears, as tapers lend their light; And should excess of tears rob her of sight, Two of these moist sparks might restore 't: our eyes An humour watery crystalline comprise: Why may not then two crystal drops restore That sight a crystal humour gave before? Love dews his locks here, woos each drop to fall A pupil in his eye, and sight recall: And I hope fortune passing through this rain Will, at last, see to recompense her pain. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CELLO by RICHARD WATSON GILDER THE FALLOW DEER AT THE LONELY HOUSE by THOMAS HARDY THE GARDEN by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON THE DAISY; WRITTEN AT EDINBURGH by ALFRED TENNYSON DANSE RUSSE by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS A TOMB BY THE SEA by AULUS LICINIUS ARCHIAS DELIVERANCE by JOHN KENDRICK BANGS PSALM 137. 'BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON' by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE |