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The Works of Mr Abraham Cowley

Consisting of Those which were formerly Printed: And Those which he Design'd for the Press, Now Published out of the Authors Original Copies ... The Text Edited by A. R. Waller

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Looking on, and discoursing with his Mistress.

1

These full two hours now have I gazing been,
What comfort by it can I gain?
To look on Heav'en with mighty Gulfs between
Was the great Misers greatest pain;
So neer was he to Heavens delight,
As with the blest converse he might,
Yet could not get one drop of water by't.

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2

Ah wretch! I seem to touch her now; but, oh,
What boundless spaces do us part?
Fortune, and Friends, and all earths empty show
My Lowness, and her high Desert:
But these might conquerable prove;
Nothing does me so far remove,
As her hard Souls aversion from my Love.

3

So Travellers, that lose their way by night,
If from afar they chance t'espy
Th' uncertain glimmerings of a Tapers light,
Take flattering hopes, and think it nigh;
Till wearied with the fruitless pain,
They sit them down, and weep in vain,
And there in Darkness and Despair remain.