Though night be dark there is a light assured:
See that thou use it not unworthily.
Two days and nights its features are obscured,
Worn soothly by revolving; presently
'Tis seen again but pallid, thin, and backed,
Like one who by the pangs of love is racked.

Then if the gazer far away secure
A glimpse thereof, 'tis quickly lost to sight;
But on the following eve it seemeth more
And yieldeth unto thee a larger light.
In fourteen days it waxeth full and bright,
In fourteen waneth till its course is run,
Diminishing as night succeedeth night
And drawing nearer to the blazing sun.
Such was the nature given by God's decree
And will be, while the moon itself shall be.