Devotion i

Thomas Campion 1567 – 1620



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!

Follow her, whose light thy light depriveth!
   Though here thou liv'st disgraced,
   And she in heaven is placed,
Yet follow her whose light the world reviveth!

Follow those pure beams, whose beauty burneth!
   That so have scorched thee
   As thou still black must be,
Till her kind beams thy black so brightness turneth.

Follow her, while yet her glory shineth!
   There comes a luckless night
   That will dim all her light;
And this the black unhappy shade divineth.

Follow still, since so thy fates ordained!
   The sun must have his shade,
   Till both at once do fade,--
The sun still proud, the shadow still disdained.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

40 sec read
56

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBA CDDC CCXC CBBC EFFE
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 777
Words 133
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Thomas Campion

Thomas Campion sometimes Campian was an English composer poet and physician Campion was first published as a poet in 1591 with five of his works appearing in an edition of Sir Philip Sidneys Astrophel and Stella more…

All Thomas Campion poems | Thomas Campion Books

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