William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910.
To Mrs. M. A. at PartingKatherine Philips (Orinda) (16321664)
I
Of all that favour me,
There’s none I grieve to leave behind
But only, only thee.
To part with thee I needs must die,
Could parting separate thee and I.
Did element our love:
’Twas sacred sympathy was lent
Us from the quire above.
(That friendship fortune did create,
Still fears a wound from time or fate.)
To such acquaintance now,
That if each would resume their own,
Alas! we know not how.
We have each other so engrost,
That each is in the union lost.
Nor shall we be confined;
Our active souls will daily go
To learn each other’s mind.
Nay, should we never meet to sense,
Our souls would hold intelligence.
I scorn to court a stay;
For from that noble soul of thine
I ne’er can be away.
But I shall weep when thou dost grieve;
Nor can I die whilst thou dost live.
At thy felicity,
And only like my happiness
Because it pleaseth thee.
Our hearts at any time will tell
If thou, or I, be sick, or well.
All that is good or great;
She that would be Rosania’s friend
Must be at least complete:
If I have any bravery,
’Tis cause I have so much of thee.
And all thy thoughts reveal;
Then back again with mine shall fly,
And thence to me shall steal.
Thus still to one another tend:
Such is the sacred name of friend.
And teach the world new love,
Redeem the age and sex, and show
A flame fate dares not move:
And courting death to be our friend,
Our lives, together too, shall end.
Of such a quality
That fighting armies, thither come,
Shall reconcilèd be.
We’ll ask no epitaph, but say:
O