Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
COME thou, who are the wine and wit | |
Of all I’ve writ: | |
The grace, the glory, and the best | |
Piece of the rest. | |
Thou art of what I did intend | 5 |
The all and end; | |
And what was made, was made to meet | |
Thee, thee, my sheet. | |
Come then and be to my chaste side | |
Both bed and bride: | 10 |
We two, as reliques left, will have | |
Once rest, one grave: | |
And hugging close, we will not fear | |
Lust entering here: | |
Where all desires are dead and cold | 15 |
As is the mould; | |
And all affections are forgot, | |
Or trouble not. | |
Here, here, the slaves and prisoners be | |
From shackles free: | 20 |
And weeping widows long oppress’d | |
Do here find rest. | |
The wrongèd client ends his laws | |
Here, and his cause. | |
Here those long suits of Chancery lie | 25 |
Quiet, or die: | |
And all Star-Chamber bills do cease | |
Or hold their peace. | |
Here needs no Court for our Request | |
Where all are best, | 30 |
All wise, all equal, and all just | |
Alike i’ th’ dust. | |
Nor need we here to fear the frown | |
Of court or crown: | |
Where fortune bears no sway o’er things, | 35 |
There all are kings. | |
In this securer place we’ll keep | |
As lull’d asleep; | |
Or for a little time we’ll lie | |
As robes laid by; | 40 |
To be another day re-worn, | |
Turn’d, but not torn: | |
Or like old testaments engross’d, | |
Lock’d up, not lost. | |
And for a while lie here conceal’d, | 45 |
To be reveal’d | |
Next at the great Platonick year, | |
And then meet here. | |