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THE WEEPER.

AIL sister springs,

Parents of silver-footed rills!

Ever bubbling things!

Thawing crystal! Snowy hills!

Still spending, never spent; I mean
Thy fair eyes, sweet Magdalene.

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Heavens thy fair eyes be;
Heavens of ever-falling stars;

'Tis seed-time still with thee,

And stars thou sow'st, whose harvest dares

Promise the earth to countershine

Whatever makes Heaven's forehead fine.

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But we're deceived all:

Stars indeed they are too true,
For they but seem to fall

As Heaven's other spangles do:
It is not for our earth and us,

To shine in things so precious.

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Upwards thou dost weep;

Heaven's bosom drinks the gentle stream.
Where the milky rivers creep,

Thine floats above and is the cream.
Waters above the heavens, what they be,
We are taught best by thy tears and thee.

Every morn from hence,

A brisk cherub something sips,
Whose soft influence

Adds sweetness to his sweetest lips;

Then to his music and his song
Tastes of this breakfast all day long.

Not in the evening's eyes,
When they red with weeping are
For the Sun that dies,

Sits Sorrow with a face so fair.

Nowhere but here did ever meet

Sweetness so sad, sadness so sweet.

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When Sorrow would be seen

In her brightest majesty,

For she is a queen,

Then is she drest by none but thee.

Then, and only then, she wears

Her richest pearls, I mean thy tears.

The dew no more will weep,
The primrose's pale cheek to deck;
The dew no more will sleep,

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