THE fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the ocean;
The winds of heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one another's being mingle ;-
Why not I with thine?
See the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?
FOR love is a celestial harmony
Of likely hearts composed of stars' consent,
Which join together in sweet sympathy,
To work each other's joy and true content,
Which they have harboured since their first descent
Out of their heavenly bowers, where they did see
And know each other here belov'd to be.
Then wrong it were that any other twain
Should in love's gentle band combinèd be,
But those whom heaven did at first ordain,
And made out of one mould the more t' agree:
For all that like the beauty which they see
Straight do not love; for love is not so light
As straight to burn at first beholder's sight.
But they which love indeed look otherwise
With pure regard and spotless true intent,
Drawing out of the object of their eyes
A more refinèd form, which they present
Unto their mind void of all blemishment;
Which it reducing to her first perfection,
Beholdeth free from flesh's frail infection.
And then conforming it unto the light,
Which in itself it hath remaining still,
Of that first Sun, yet sparkling in his sight,
Thereof he fashions in his higher skill
An heavenly beauty to his fancy's will;
And it embracing in his mind entire,
The mirror of his own thought doth admire.
Which seeing now so inly fair to be,
As outward it appeareth to the eye,
And with his spirit's proportion to agree,
He thereon fixeth all his fantasy,
And fully setteth his felicity;
Counting it fairer than it is indeed,
And yet indeed her fairness doth exceed.
For lovers' eyes more sharply sighted be
Than other men's, and in dear love's delight
See more than any other eyes can see,
Through mutual receipt of beamës bright,
Which carry privy message to the sprite;
And to their eyes that inmost fair display,
As plain as light discovers dawning day.
EDMUND SPENSER.
SWEET, be not proud of those two eyes,
Which starlike sparkle in their skies;
Nor be you proud, that you can see
All hearts your captives,-yours, yet free.
Be you not proud of that rich hair
Which wantons with the love-sick air :
Whenas that ruby which you wear,
Sunk from the tip of your soft ear,
Will last to be a precious stone
When all your world of beauty's gone.
ROBERT HERRICK.
ÜMMEDCITY DE MICHIGAN LIDI KUUKY
LOOK, Delia, how we esteem the half-blown rose,
The image of thy blush and summer's honour,
Whilst yet her tender bud doth undisclose
That full of beauty, time bestows upon her.
No sooner spreads her glory in the air
But straight her wide blown pomp comes to decline:
She then is scorned that late adorned the Fair ;
So fade the roses of those cheeks of thine.
No April can revive thy withered flowers
Whose springing grace adorns thy glory now:
Swift speedy Time, feathered with flying hours,
Dissolves the beauty of the fairest brow.
Then do not thou such treasure waste in vain,
But love now, whilst thou mayst be loved again.
SAMUEL DANIEL.
I LOVED her for that she was beautiful;
And that to me she seemed to be all nature,
And all varieties of things in one :
Would set at night in clouds of tears, and rise
All light and laughter in the morning; fear
No petty customs nor appearances;
But think what others only dreamed about;
And say what others did but think; and do
What others would but say; and glory in
What others dared but do; so pure withal
In soul in heart and act such conscious, yet
Such careless innocence, she made round her
A halo of delight; 'twas these which won me ;-
And that she never schooled within her breast
One thought or feeling, but gave holiday
To all; and that she made all even mine,
In the communion of love and we
Grew like each other, for we loved each other;
She, mild and generous as the air in Spring;
And I, like Earth, all budding out with love.
PHILIP JAMES Bailey.
SOUL, heart, and body, we thus singly name, Are not, in love, divisible and distinct, But each with each inseparably linked. One is not honour, and the other shame, Put burn as closely fused as fuel, heat, and flame.
They do not love who give the body and keep The heart ungiven; nor they who yield the soul, And guard the body. Love doth give the whole; Its range being high as heaven, as ocean deep, Wide as the realms of air or planet's curving sweep.
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