Comus (John Milton)

"How sweetly did they float upon the wings Of silence, through the empty-vaulted night, At every fall smoothing the raven down Of darkness till it smiled!"

"Beauty is Natures brag, and must be shown In courts, at feasts, and high solemnities, Where most may wonder at the workmanship; It is for homely features to keep home — They had their name thence; coarse complexions And cheeks of sorry grain will serve to ply The sampler, and to tease the huswifes wool. What need a vermeil-tinctured lip for that, Love-darting eyes, or tresses like the morn?"

"Sabrina fair, Listen where thou art sitting Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave, In twisted braids of lilies knitting The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair; Listen for dear honors sake, Goddess of the silver lake, Listen and save."

"But now my task is smoothly done: I can fly, or I can run."

"Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot Which men call earth."

"Before the starry threshold of Joves Court My mansion is."

"Yet some there be that by due steps aspire To lay their just hands on that golden key That opes the palace of Eternity. To such my errand is; and but for such, I would not soil these pure ambrosial weeds With the rank vapours of this sin-worn mould."

"Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape Crushed the sweet poison of misused wine."

"What hath night to do with sleep?"

"And the gilded car of day, His glowing axle doth allay In the steep Atlantic stream."

"A thousand fantasies Begin to throng into my memory, Of calling shapes, and beckning shadows dire, And airy tongues that syllable mens names On sands and shores and desert wildernesses."

"Was I deceivd, or did a sable cloud Turn forth her silver lining on the night? I did not err; there does a sable cloud Turn forth her silver lining on the night, And casts a gleam over this tufted grove."