University of Virginia Library

[When thou and I must part]

When wee have lost our Breath, & shall not vex
The Citty, nor the precise Holy Sects
Of our new Reformation, with Mirth,
Which though refin'd, yet they say smells of Earth:
When Wit and Innocence shall both expire,
And our Soules flourish with eternall Fire:
When all is gone that the false envious World
With much regret into our Pockets hurl'd:
When the harsh Thunder of a Drawer's Voice,
Hucsters Non-sense, mixt with a Medley-noise
Of Carmen, Prentises, & Boyes, no more
Shall trouble us: and when no after-Score
Shall mend our first mistaken Reckonings:
When Tailors, Sergeants, and such hatefull Things
Shall leave us, & wee them; when Thou & I,
That never single were, must part and dye:
Our Freinds (I hope) will be so liberall
And kind, to let us have one Buriall,
One Grave to blend our Ashes, as one Life
Did mix our equall Hearts with mutuall strife
Of Friendship & Delight. There (as Wise Men
Beleeve, that Love lives after Death) agen
Our Spirits shall intermix, & weave their Knots;
Free from the trouble of these earthly Grotts;
Thence winged flie to the Elysian Groves,
Where, whilst wee still renew our constant Loves,
A Thousand Troops of Learned Ghosts shall meet
Us, and our com̄ing thither gladly greet.
First the Great Shadow of Renowned Ben
Shall give us hearty, joyfull Wellcome: then

66

Ingenious Randolph from his lovely Arms
Shall entertaine us with such mighty charms
Of strict embraces, that wee cannot wish
For any comforts greater than this Blisse:
From hence dismiss'd through many winding Wayes
And subtle turnings, where each Spirit playes,
Delighting to be lost in such a Maze
Of Joyes & Pleasure, our just, even Pace
Shall bring us to that sweet Forgetfull Lake,
Which (if brave Pöets sing the Truth) will make
All Sorrow flie away from them that bath
Their thirsty Pallates in the liquid Path.
Here on a shadie Plot of pleasant Ground
Those scorned Lovers mingle in a Round,
Who in their Life time were unhappily
Blasted & torne by cruell Perjurie.
All these frequent the pow'rfull Streames, to drowne
Their burning Greifes, & drinke their Sorrows downe:
That the Inconstant Sex may not torment
Their Shadowes after Death, with Discontent.
And here Wee Two swell'd with delightfull joy
Shall quite forget those Cares, which did annoy
Our Minds in this vaine Region of Greife,
Where there is little Comfort or Releife.
Wee'll sit upon the flowrie Banks, and spend
Our cheerfull Thoughts in Pleasures without End.