Occasional Verses of Edward Lord Herbert, Baron of Cherbery and Castle-Island ::

Madam, believe't, Love is not such a toy,
As it is sport but for the Idle Boy,
Or wanton Youth, since it can entertain
Our serious thoughts, and make us know how vain
All time is spent we do not thus imploy.

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For though strong passion oft on youth doth seize,
It is not yet affection, but disease,
Caus'd from repletion, which their blood doth vex,
So that they love not Woman, but the Sex,
And care no more then how themselves to please.

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Whereas true Lovers check that appetite,
Which would presume further then to invite
The Soul unto that part it ought to take,
When that from this address it would but make
Some introduction only to delight.

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For while they from the outward sense transplant
The love grew there in earthly mould, and scant,
To the Souls spacious and immortal field,
They spring a love eternal, which will yield
All that a pure affection can grant.

5

Besides, what time or distance might effect
Is thus remov'd, while they themselves connect
So far above all change, as to exclude
Not only all which might their sense delude,
But mind to any object else affect.

6

Nor will the proof of Constancy be hard,
When they have plac'd upon their mind that guard,
As no ignoble thought can enter there,
And Love doth such a vertue persevere,
And in it self so find a just reward.

7

And thus a love, made from a worthy choice,
Will to that union come, as but one voice
Shall speak, one thought but think the others will,
And while, but frailty, they can know no ill,
Their souls more then their bodies must rejoice.

8

In which estate nothing can so fulfill
Those heights of pleasure, which their souls instill
Into each other, but that love thence draws
New Arguments of joy, while the same cause
That makes them happy, makes them greater still.

9

So that however multipli'd and vast
Their love increase, they will not think it past
The bounds of growth, till their exalted fire
B'ing equally inlarg'd with their desire,
Transform and fix them to one Starr at last.

10

Or when that otherwise they were inclin'd
Unto those publick joys, which are assign'd
To blessed souls when they depart from hence
They would, besides what Heaven doth dispense,
Have their contents they in each other find.

University of Virginia Library

Platonick Love.

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