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 Lauras hearse. | 10 |
Hereat the hardest stones were seen to bleed, | |
And groans of buried ghosts the heavens did pierce: | |
Where Homers spright did tremble all for grief, | |
And cursed the access of that celestial thief. | | | |
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