quote · Legacy record
Still young and fine, but what is still in view, We slight as old and soil’d, though fresh and new; How bright wert thou when Shem’s admiring eye Thy burnished flaming arch did first descry; When Zarah, Nahor, Haran, Abram, Lot, The youthful world’s grey fathers, in one knot, Did, with intentive looks, watch every hour For thy new light, and trembled at each shower! When thou dost shine, darkness looks white and fair; Forms turn to music, clouds to smiles and air; Rain gently spreads his honey-drops, and pours Balm on the cleft earth, milk on grass and flowers. Bright pledge of peace and sunshine, the sure tye Of the Lord’s hand, the object of his eye; When I behold thee, though my light be dim, Distant, and low, I can in thine see Him Who looks upon thee from His glorious throne, And minds the covenant betwixt all and One.
Still young and fine, but what is still in view, We slight as old and soil’d, though fresh and new; How bright wert thou when Shem’s admiring eye Thy burnished flaming arch did first descry; When Zarah, Nahor, Haran, Abram, Lot, The youthful world’s grey fathers, in one knot, Did, with intentive looks, watch every hour For thy new light, and trembled at each shower! When thou dost shine, darkness looks white and fair; Forms turn to music, clouds to smiles and air; Rain gently spreads his honey-drops, and pours Balm on the cleft earth, milk on grass and flowers. Bright pledge of peace and sunshine, the sure tye Of the Lord’s hand, the object of his eye; When I behold thee, though my light be dim, Distant, and low, I can in thine see Him Who looks upon thee from His glorious throne, And minds the covenant betwixt all and One.
Approximate author period: c. 1658 AD · renaissance
Meaning not yet available
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Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Henry Vaughan
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1658 AD · renaissance
author lifetime midpoint (1621–1695)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 152 · printed citation: Henry Vaughan · subject: COVENANT—RAINBOW
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