"In that white Snow which overspreads your skin, / We trace ye whiter Soul which dwells within."
— Oldham, John (1653-1683)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Jo. Hindmarsh [etc.]
Date
1684
Metaphor
"In that white Snow which overspreads your skin, / We trace ye whiter Soul which dwells within."
Metaphor in Context
And so you are; half boasts a Deathless State;
Although your frailer part must yield to Fate.
By every breach in that fair lodging made,
Its blest Inhabitant is more displaid:
In that white Snow which overspreads your skin,
We trace ye whiter Soul which dwells within;
Which while you through this shining Hue display
Looks like a Star plac'd in the Milky way:
Such the bright Bodies of the Blessed are,
When they for Raiment cloath'd with Light appear,
And should you visit now the Seats of Bliss,
You need not wear another form but this.
Never did Sickness in such pomp appear,
As when it thus your Livery did wear,
Disease it self look'd amiable here.
So Clouds which would obscure the Sun oft gilded be,
And Shades are taught to shine as bright as he.
Although your frailer part must yield to Fate.
By every breach in that fair lodging made,
Its blest Inhabitant is more displaid:
In that white Snow which overspreads your skin,
We trace ye whiter Soul which dwells within;
Which while you through this shining Hue display
Looks like a Star plac'd in the Milky way:
Such the bright Bodies of the Blessed are,
When they for Raiment cloath'd with Light appear,
And should you visit now the Seats of Bliss,
You need not wear another form but this.
Never did Sickness in such pomp appear,
As when it thus your Livery did wear,
Disease it self look'd amiable here.
So Clouds which would obscure the Sun oft gilded be,
And Shades are taught to shine as bright as he.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "soul" and "skin" in HDIS (Poetry)
Date of Entry
12/18/2006
