'Tis by comparison we know <br />On every object to bestow <br />Its proper share of praise <br />Did each alike perfection bear, <br />What beauty, though divinely fair, <br />Could admiration raise? <br /> <br />Amidst the lucid bands of night, <br />See! Hesperus, serenely bright, <br />Adorns the distant skies: <br />But languishes amidst the blaze <br />Of sprightly Sol's meridian rays,- <br />Or Silvia's brighter eyes. <br /> <br />Whene'er the nightingale complains, <br />I like the melancholy strains, <br />And praise the tuneful bird: <br />But vainly might she strain her throat, <br />Vainly exalt each swelling note, <br />Should Silvia's voice be heard. <br /> <br />When, on the violet's purple bed, <br />Supine I rest my weary head, <br />The fragrant pillow charms: <br />Yet soon such languid bliss I'd fly, <br />Would Silvia but the loss supply, <br />And take me to her arms. <br /> <br />The alabaster's wondrous white, <br />The marble's polish strikes my sight, <br />When Silvia is not seen: <br />But ah! how faint that white is grown, <br />How rough appears the polish'd stone, <br />Compared with Silvia's mien! <br /> <br />The rose, that o'er the Cyprian plains, <br />With flowers enamell'd, blooming reigns, <br />With undisputed power, <br />Placed near her cheek's celestial red <br />(Its purple lost, its lustre fled), <br />Delights the sense no more.<br /><br />William Shenstone<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/comparison-15/
