Let's keep picking on Mr. Milton, shall we? After all, although I never met the man, based on his reputation he could "lighten up" a little.
What poem should we peruse today? How about this one:
On His Deceased Wife by John Milton
METHOUGHT I saw my late espoused Saint
Brought to me like Alcestis from the grave,
Whom Joves great Son to her glad Husband gave,
Rescu'd from death by force though pale and faint.
Mine as whom washt from spot of child-bed taint,
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 vail'd, yet to my fancied sight,
Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shin'd
So clear, as in no face with more delight.
But O as to embrace me she enclin'd
I wak'd, she fled, and day brought back my night.
Okay .... if you read this poem through, then I hope you have a new appreciation for Mr. Milton. What a beautiful, heart-wrenching dedication to a lost lover! John, you old Puritan, I didn't know you had it in you.
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