| Sir Walter Raleigh (1554?–1618). Poems. 1892. | | | | IV. | | A Vision upon this Conceit of the Fairy Queen; 1590 |
| | | METHOUGHT I saw the grave where Laura lay, | |
| Within that temple where the vestal flame | |
| Was wont to burn: and, passing by that way, | |
| To see that buried dust of living fame, | |
| Whose tomb fair Love and fairer Virtue kept, | 5 |
| All suddenly I saw the Fairy Queen, | |
| At whose approach the soul of Petrarch wept; | |
| And from thenceforth those graces were not seen, | |
| For they this Queen attended; in whose stead | |
| Oblivion laid him down on Laura’s hearse. | 10 |
| Hereat the hardest stones were seen to bleed, | |
| And groans of buried ghosts the heavens did pierce: | |
| Where Homer’s spright did tremble all for grief, | |
| And cursed the access of that celestial thief. | | | | |
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