Page:An English Garner Ingatherings from Our History and Literature (Volume 1 1877).pdf/267

The gods, which all things see, this same beheld.
And pitying this pair of lovers true;
Transformèd them, there lying on the field,
Into one flower that is both red and blue.
It first grows red, and then to blue doth fade;
Like Astrophel, which thereinto was made.

And in the midst thereof a star appears,
As fairly formed as any star in sky;
Resembling Stella in her freshest years,
Forth darting beams of beauty from her eyes:
And all the day it standeth full of dew,
Which is the tears that from her eyes did flow.

That herb of some, "Starlight" is called by name;
Of others Penthia, though not so well:
But thou wherever thou dost find the same,
From this day forth do call it Astrophel.
And whensoever thou it up dost take;
Do pluck it softly, for that shepherd's sake.

Hereof when tidings far abroad did pass,
The shepherds all which lovèd him full dear—
And sure, full dear of all he lovèd was—
Did thither flock to see what they did hear.
And when that piteous spectacle they viewed,
The same with bitter tears they all bedewed.