WONDERING long how I could harmless see Men gazing on those beams that fired me, At last I found it was the crystal, love, Before my heart that did the heat improve: Which, by contracting of those scatter'd rays Into itself, did so produce my blaze. Now, lighted by my love, I see the same Beams dazzle those, that me are wont t' inflame; And now I bless my love, when I do think By how much I had rather burn than wink. But how much happier were it thus to burn, If I had liberty to choose my urn! But since those beams do promise only fire, This flame shall purge me of the dross, desire. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...QUATRAIN: FATE by RALPH WALDO EMERSON THE THREE FISHERS by CHARLES KINGSLEY COWLEY: THE GARDEN by ALEXANDER POPE EPISTLE TO DR. ENFIELD ON HIS REVISITING WARRINGTON IN 1789 by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD A COMPARISON OF THE LIFE OF MAN by RICHARD BARNFIELD H. SACRAMENT by JOSEPH BEAUMONT |