Sonnet II. How can that piercing crystal-painted eye

Bartholomew Griffin (d. 1602)

HOW can that piercing crystal-painted eye,

That gave the onset to my high aspiring,

Yielding each look of mine a sweet reply,

Adding new courage to my heart’s desiring?

How can it shut itself within her ark,

And keep herself and me both from the light;

Making us walk in all misguiding dark,

Aye to remain, in confines of the night?

How is it that so little room contains it,

(That guides the Orient, as the world, the Sun)

Which once obscured, most bitterly complains it,

Because it knows and rules whate’er is done.

The reason is, that they may dread her sight,

Who doth both give, and take away their light.