From Thomas Campion’s Two Books of Airs (circ. 1613).
Lo, when back mine eye
But now heaven hath drawn
From my brows that night;
As when the day doth dawn,
So clears my long-imprisoned sight.
Straight the Caves of Hell
Dressed with flowers I see,
Wherein False Pleasures dwell,
That, winning most, most deadly be.
Throngs of maskèd fiends,
Winged like angels, fly;
Even in the gates of friends,
In fair disguise black dangers lie.
Straight to heaven I raised
My restorèd sight,
And with loud voice I praised
The Lord of ever-during light.
And since I had strayed
From His ways so wide,
His grace I humbly prayed
Henceforth to be my guard and guide.
From John Maynard’s Twelve Wonders of the World, 1611.
The Courtier.
Long have I lived in Court,