The Poetical Works of John Milton


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In that obscure sojourn, while in my flight  
Through utter and through middle darkness borne  
With other notes then to th' Orphean Lyre  
I sung of Chaos and Eternal Night,  
Taught by the heav'nly Muse to venture down  
The dark descent, and up to reascend,  
Though hard and rare: thee I revisit safe,  
And feel thy sovran vital Lamp; but thou  
Revisit'st not these eyes, that rowle in vain  
To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;  
So thick a drop serene hath quencht thir Orbs,  
Or dim suffusion veild. Yet not the more  
Cease I to wander where the Muses haunt  
Cleer Spring, or shadie Grove, or Sunnie Hill,  
Smit with the love of sacred song; but chief  
Thee Sion and the flowrie Brooks beneath  
That wash thy hallowd feet, and warbling flow,  
Nightly I visit: nor somtimes forget  
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Those other two equal'd with me in Fate,  
So were I equal'd with them in renown,  
Blind Thamyris and blind Maeonides,  
And Tiresias and Phineus Prophets old.  
Then feed on thoughts, that voluntarie move  
Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful Bird  
Sings darkling, and in shadiest Covert hid  
Tunes her nocturnal Note. Thus with the Year  
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Page
279 280 281 282 283

Quick Jump
1 198 395 593 790