Eclogue: 1613, December 26 by John Donne

Allophanes finding Idios in the country in Christmas time, reprehends his absence from court, at the marriage of the Earl of Somerset; Idios gives an account of his purpose therein, and of his actions there.

Unseasonable man, statue of ice, / What could to country's solitude entice / Thee, in this year's cold and decrepit time? / Nature's instinct draws to the warmer clime / Even smaller birds, who by that courage dare / In numerous fleets sail through their sea, the air. / What delicacy can in fields appear, / Whilst Flora herself doth a frieze jerkin wear? / Whilst winds do all the trees and hedges strip / Of leaves, to furnish rods enough to whip / Thy madness from thee, and all springs by frost / Have taken cold, and their sweet murmurs lost? / If thou thy faults or fortunes wouldst lament / With just solemnity, do it in Lent. / At court the spring already advanced is, / The sun stays longer up; and yet not his / The glory is; far other, other fires. / First, zeal to prince and state, then love's desires / Burn in one breast, and like heaven's two great lights, / The first doth govern days, the other, nights. / And then that early light which did appear / Before the sun and moon created were, / The prince's favour, is diffused o'er all, / From which all fortunes, names, and natures fall. / Then from those wombs of stars, the bride's bright eyes, / At every glance, a constellation flies, / And sows the court with stars, and doth prevent / In light and power, the all-eyed firmament. / First her eyes kindle other ladies' eyes, / Then from their beams their jewels' lustres rise, / And from their jewels torches do take fire, / And all is warmth, and light, and good desire. / Most other courts, alas! are like to hell, / Where in dark places, fire without light doth dwell; / Or but like stoves; for lust and envy get / Continual, but artificial heat. / Here zeal and love grown one all clouds digest, / And make our court an everlasting east. / And canst thou be from thence?