Follow Thy Fair Sun
By Thomas Campion
Thomas Campion
Born in London in 1567, he practiced medicine to pay the bills but most of all he loved poetry and music. Campion published a book containing 453 of his epigrams, or short poems. His mother and father died before he attended University at Peterhouse, Cambridge, but left without a degree.
Folow Thy Fair Sun
Follow thy fair sun, unhappy shadow,
Though thou be black as night
And she made all of light,
Yet follow they fair sun, unhappy shadow.
Follow her whose light thy light depriveth,
Though here thou liv'st disgraced,
And she in heaven is placed,
Yet follow her whose light the world reviveth.
Follow those pure beams whose beauty burneth,
That so have scorched thee,
As thou still black must be,
Till Her kind beams thy black to brightness turneth.
Follow her while yet her glory shineth,
There comes a luckless night,
That will dim all her light,
And this the black unhappy shade divineth.
Follow still since so thy fates ordained,
The Sun must have his shade,
Till both at once do fade,
The sun still proved, the shadow still disdained.
Have you ever been chasing that boy or girl of your dreams but feel like it's not getting anywhere? Then this poem and Thomas Campion know how you feel. Referring to people as light and shadow, implying differences in personality or traits, talks about a being striving to be with who he wants most.
"Though though be black as night, and she made all of light…"
An example of the personification of light and shadow as people. Illustrates the point that these two people are very different, if not opposites, of one another.
Thomas Campion - Follow Thy Fair Sun