High in the airy element there hung
Another cloudy sea, that did disdain,
As though his purer waves from heaven sprung,
To crawl on earth, as doth the sluggish main;
But it the earth would water with his rain,
That ebb’d and flow’d as wind and season would;
And oft the sun would cleave the limber mould
To alabaster rocks, that in the liquid roll’d.
Beneath those sunny banks a darker cloud,
Dropping with thicker dew, did melt apace,
And bent itself into a hollow shroud,
On which, if Mercy did but cast her face,
A thousand colours did the bow enchase,
That wonder was to see the silk distain’d
With the resplendence from her beauty gain’d,
And Iris paint her locks with beams so lively feign’d.
Over her hung a canopy of state,
Not of rich tissue, nor of spangled gold,
But of a substance, though not animate,
Yet of a heavenly and spiritual mould,
That only eyes of spirits might behold:
Such light as from main rocks of diamond,
Shooting their sparks at Phoebus, would rebound,
And little angels, holding hands, danced all around.
(Giles Fletcher Jr)
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Based on Topics: Faces Poems, Heaven Poems, Gold Poems, Money & Wealth Poems, Angels Poems, Curiosity PoemsBased on Keywords: distain, resplendence, enchase