Poems By the most deservedly Admired Mrs Katherine Philips: The matchless Orinda. To which is added Monsieur Corneille's Pompey & Horace Tragedies. With several other Translations out of French |
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A Friend.
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A Friend.
1
Love, Nature's Plot, this great Creation's Soul,The Being and the Harmony of things,
Doth still preserve and propagate the whole,
From whence Mans Happiness and Safety springs:
The earliest, whitest, blessedst Times did draw
From her alone their universal Law.
2
Friendship's an Abstract of this noble Flame,'Tis Love refin'd and purg'd from all its dross,
The next to Angels Love, if not the same,
As strong as passion is, though not so gross:
It antedates a glad Eternity,
And is an Heaven in Epitome.
3
Nobler then Kindred or then Marriage-band,Because more free; Wedlock-felicity
It self doth only by this Union stand,
And turns to Friendship or to Misery.
Force or Design Matches to pass may bring,
But Friendship doth from Love and Honour spring.
95
4
If Souls no Sexes have, for Men t' excludeWomen from Friendship's vast capacity,
Is a Design injurious or rude,
Onely maintain'd by partial tyranny.
Love is allow'd to us and Innocence,
And noblest Friendships do proceed from thence.
5
The chiefest thing in Friends is Sympathy:There is a Secret that doth Friendship guide,
Which makes two Souls before they know agree,
Who by a thousand mixtures are ally'd,
And chang'd and lost, so that it is not known
Within which breast doth now reside their own.
6
Essential Honour must be in a Friend,Not such as every breath fans to and fro;
But born within, is its own judge and end,
And dares not sin though sure that none should know.
Where Friendship's spoke, Honesty's understood;
For none can be a Friend that is not Good.
7
Friendship doth carry more then common trust,And Treachery is here the greatest sin.
Secrets deposed then none ever must
Presume to open, but who put them in.
They that in one Chest lay up all their stock,
Had need be sure that none can pick the Lock.
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8
A breast too open Friendship does not love,For that the others Trust will not conceal;
Nor one too much reserv'd can it approve,
Its own Condition this will not reveal.
We empty Passions for a double end,
To be refresh'd and guarded by a Friend.
9
Wisdom and Knowledge Friendship does require,The first for Counsel, this for Company;
And though not mainly, yet we may desire
Both complaisance and Ingenuity.
Though ev'ry thing may love, yet 'tis a Rule,
He cannot be a Friend that is a Fool.
10
Discretion uses Parts, and best knows how;And Patience will all Qualities commend:
That serves a need best, but this doth allow
The Weaknesses and Passions of a Friend.
We are not yet come to the Quire above:
Who cannot Pardon here, can never Love.
11
Thick Waters shew no Images of things;Friends are each others Mirrours, and should be
Clearer then Crystal or the Mountain Springs,
And free from Clouds, Design or Flattery.
For vulgar Souls no part of Friendship share:
Poets and Friends are born to what they are.
97
12
Friends should observe and chide each others Faults,To be severe then is most just & kind;
Nothing can 'scape their search who knew the thoughts:
This they should give and take with equal Mind:
For Friendship, when this Freedom is deny'd,
Is like a Painter when his hands are ty'd.
13
A Friend should find out each Necessity,And then unask'd reliev't at any rate:
It is not Friendship, but Formality,
To be desir'd; for Kindness keeps no state.
Of Friends he doth the Benefactour prove,
That gives his Friend the means t' express his Love.
14
Absence doth not from Friendship's right excuse:Them who preserve each others heart and fame,
Parting can ne're divide, it may diffuse;
As a far stretch'd out River's still the same.
Though Presence help'd them at the first to greet,
Their Souls know now without those aids to meet.
15
Constant and Solid, whom no storms can shake,Nor death unfix, a right Friend ought to be;
And if condemned to survive, doth make
No second choice, but Grief and Memory.
But Friendship's best Fate is, when it can spend
A Life, a Fortune, all to serve a Friend.
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