Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900.djvu/172

 ALEXANDER HUME

1560-1609

106. A Summer Day

O perfect Light, which shaid away The darkness from the light, And set a ruler o'er the day, Another o'er the night—

Thy glory, when the day forth flies, More vively doth appear Than at mid day unto our eyes The shining sun is clear.

The shadow of the earth anon Removes and drawis by, While in the East, when it is gone, Appears a clearer sky.

Which soon perceive the little larks, The lapwing and the snipe, And tune their songs, like Nature's clerks, O'er meadow, muir, and stripe.

Our hemisphere is polisht clean, And lighten'd more and more, While everything is clearly seen Which seemit dim before:

Except the glistering astres bright, Which all the night were clear, Offuskit with a greater light No longer do appear.

shaid] parted. stripe] rill. offuskit] darkened.