Thomas Campion. Lo, when back mine eye. (poem, song, aire)

Two Bookes of Ayres:
The First Booke
XIII.
by Thomas Campion.

Loe, when backe mine eye,
   Pilgrim-like, I cast,
What fearefull wayes I spye,
Which, blinded, I securely past ?

But now heau'n hath drawne
   From my browes that night ;
As when the day doth dawne,
So cleares my long imprison'd sight.

Straight the caues of hell,
   Drest with flowres I see :                                              10
Wherein false pleasures dwell,
That, winning most, most deadly be.

Throngs of masked Feinds,
   Wing'd like Angels flye,
Euen in the gates of Friends
In faire disguise blacke dangers lye.

Straight to Heau'n I rais'd
   My restored sight,
And with loud voyce I prais'd
The Lord of euer-during light.                                 20

And since I had stray'd
   From his wayes so wide,
His grace I humble pray'd
Hence-forth to be my guard and guide.

Text source:
Campion, Thomas. Campion's Works. Percival Vivian, Ed.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1909. 123.

Music:
"Lo, when back mine eye" by Campion, Thomas.
Sequenced by Harald Lillmeyer. Used with permission.

to Works of Thomas Campion