John Milton. (1608–1674). Complete Poems.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| On his Deceased Wife |
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| (1658) |
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| METHOUGHT I saw my late espoused saint | |
| Brought to me like Alcestis from the grave, | |
| Whom Jove’s great son to her glad husband gave, | |
| Rescued from Death by force, though pale and faint. | |
| Mine, as whom washed from spot of childbed taint | 5 |
| Purification in the Old Law did save, | |
| And such as yet once more I trust to have | |
| Full sight of her in Heaven without restraint, | |
| Came vested all in white, pure as her mind. | |
| Her face was veiled; yet to my fancied sight | 10 |
| Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shined | |
| So clear as in no face with more delight. | |
| But, oh! as to embrace me she inclined, | |
| I waked, she fled, and day brought back my night. | |
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