Herbert J.C. Grierson, ed. (1886–1960). Metaphysical Lyrics & Poems of the 17th C. 1921.

1625–1678 Thomas Stanley

The Repulse

NOT that by this disdain

I am releas’d,

And freed from thy tyrannick chain,

Do I my self think blest;

Nor that thy Flame shall burn

No more; for know

That I shall into ashes turn,

Before this fire doth so.

Nor yet that unconfin’d

I now may rove,

And with new beauties please my mind;

But that thou ne’r didst love:

For since thou hast no part

Felt of this flame,

I onely from thy tyrant heart

Repuls’d, not banish’d am.

To loose what once was mine

Would grieve me more

Then those inconstant sweets of thine

Had pleas’d my soul before.

Now I have not lost the blisse

I ne’r possest;

And spight of fate am blest in this,

That I was never blest.