64 PARADISE LOST. Boole III; Through utter and through middle darknefs born, With other notes than to th' Orphean Lyre, I fung of Chaos and eternal Night ; Taught by the heav'nly Mule to venture down The dark defcent, and up to re-afcend, 20 Tho' hard and rare. Thee I revifit fafe, And feel thy fov'reign vital lamp : but thou Revifit'ft not thefe eyes, that rowl in vain To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn ; So thick a Drop Serene hath quench'd their orbs, 25 Or dim fuffufion veii'd. Yet not the more Ceafe I to wander, where the Mules haunt, Clear fpring, or fhady grove, or funny hill, Smit with the love of facred Fong : but chief Thee Sion, and the flowry brooks beneath, 3° That wall) thy hallow'd feet, and warbling Aow, Nightly I vifit : nor fometimes forget Thofe other two equal'd with me in fate, (So were I equal'd with them in renown !) Blind Tharnyris, and blind Mxonides, 35 And Tirefias, and Phineus Prophets old. Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move Harmonious Numbers; as the wakeful bird Sings darkling, and in thadiell covert hid Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year 40 Seafons return, but not to me returns Day, or the fweet approach of ev'n or morn, Or fight of vernal bloom, or fummer's rote, Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine : But cloud inftead, and ever-during dark 45 Surrounds me ; from the chearful ways of men Cut off; and for the book of knowledge fair, Prefented with a univerial blank Of nature's works, to me expung'd and ras'd, And wifdom at one entrance quite Phut out ! 50 So
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