Classic Poem

1 Prais'd be Diana's fair and harmless light;
2 Prais'd be the dews wherewith she moists the ground;
3 Prais'd be her beams, the glory of the night;
4 Prais'd be her power by which all powers abound.

5 Prais'd be her nymphs with whom she decks the woods,
6 Prais'd be her knights in whom true honour lives;
7 Prais'd be that force by which she moves the floods;
8 Let that Diana shine which all these gives.

9 In heaven queen she is among the spheres;
10 In aye she mistress-like makes all things pure;
11 Eternity in her oft change she bears;
12 She beauty is; by her the fair endure.

13 Time wears her not: she doth his chariot guide;
14 Mortality below her orb is plac'd;
15 By her the virtue of the stars down slide;
16 In her is virtue's perfect image cast.

17 A knowledge pure it is her worth to know:
18 With Circes let them dwell that think not so.