They to their grassy couch, these to their nests,

Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale—

She all night long her amorous descant sung;

Silence was pleased. Now glowed the firmament

With living sapphires; Hesperus, that led

The starry host, rode brightest till the moon,

Rising in clouded majesty, at length

Apparent queen, unveiled her peerless light

And o’er the dark her silver mantle threw.

Milton, Paradise Lost