When thou dost shine, darkness looks white and fair, Forms turn to music, clouds to smiles and air; Rain gently spends his honey-drops, and pours Balm on the cleft earth, milk on grass and flowers. Bright pledge of peace and sunshine!

The speaker addresses a radiant presence—most plausibly the sun—as a transforming power that alters perception and the natural world. Under its light, even “darkness” appears “white and fair,” and ordinary phenomena (clouds, rain, earth, grass, flowers) are transfigured into beauty, harmony, and healing. The imagery of “honey-drops,” “balm,” and “milk” casts rain and sunlight as nourishing gifts, suggesting providential care and renewal after barrenness (“cleft earth”). The closing apostrophe, “Bright pledge of peace and sunshine,” elevates the scene into a moral or spiritual emblem: light becomes a sign of reconciliation, restoration, and benign order in creation—characteristic of Vaughan’s devotional, nature-suffused metaphysical style.