20a. Hence, vain deluding Joys

From L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, HWV 55, Part II, Il Penseroso

English text
Il Penseroso
Hence, vain deluding joys,
The brood of Folly without father bred;
How little you bestead,
Or fill the fixed mind with all your toys.
Oh, let my lamp, at midnight hour,
Be seen in some high lonely tow’r,
Where I may oft out-watch the Bear
With thrice-great Hermes, or unsphere
The spirit of Plato to unfold
What worIds, or what vast regions hold
Th’immortal mind that hath forsook
Her mansion in this fleshly nook.
Opera Stanford

About the text

Based on the poetry of John Milton