| Sir Walter Raleigh (1554?–1618). Poems. 1892. | | | | XXVI. | | The Shepherd’s Praise of his Sacred Diana; before 1593 |
| | | PRAISED be Diana’s fair and harmless light; | |
| Praised be the dews wherewith she moists the ground; | |
| Praised be her beams, the glory of the night; | |
| Praised be her power, by which all powers abound. | |
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| Praised be her nymphs, with whom she decks the woods; | 5 |
| Praised be her knights, in whom true honour lives; | |
| Praised be that force, by which she moves the floods; | |
| Let that Diana shine which all these gives. | |
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| In heaven queen she is among the spheres; | |
| She mistress-like makes all things to be pure; | 10 |
| Eternity in her oft change she bears; | |
| She beauty is; by her the fair endure. | |
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| Time wears her not; she doth his chariot guide; | |
| Mortality below her orb is placed; | |
| By her the virtues of the stars down slide; | 15 |
| In her is virtue’s perfect image cast. | |
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| A knowledge pure it is her worth to know: | |
| With Circes let them dwell that think not so. [S. W. R.] IGNOTO. | | | | |
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