English Poetry I: From Chaucer to Gray.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 143. Follow thy Fair Sun |
| | | Thomas Campion (1567(?)–1620) |
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| 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! | |
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| Follow her, whose light thy light depriveth! | 5 |
| Though here thou livest disgraced, | |
| And she in heaven is placed; | |
| Yet follow her whose light the world reviveth! | |
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| Follow those pure beams, whose beauty burneth! | |
| That so have scorchèd thee; | 10 |
| As thou still black must be, | |
| Till her kind beams thy black to brightness turneth! | |
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| Follow her, while yet her glory shineth! | |
| There comes a luckless night | |
| That will dim all her light; | 15 |
| And this the black unhappy shade divineth. | |
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| Follow still, since so thy Fates ordainèd! | |
| The sun must have his shade, | |
| Till both at once do fade; | |
| The sun still proved, the shadow still disdainèd! | 20 |
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