Poem XXIII

1No favour was left which that winsome beauty did not bestow.What fault of ours, if he failed in bounty towards you?

2Thou art reviling, because that charmer wrought tyranny;Who ever saw in the two worlds a fair one that played not the tyrant?

3His love is a sugar-cane, tho’ he gave not sugar;His beauty is perfect faith, tho’ he kept not faith.

4Show a house that is not filled by him with lamps,Show a portico that his face filled not with loveliness.

5When the spirit became lost in contemplation, it said this:‘None but God has contemplated the beauty of God.’

6This eye and that lamp are two lights, each individual;When they came together, no one distinguished them.

7Each of these metaphors is at once an explanation and a misconception;God revealed “By the morning splendour” in envy of the light of his countenance.