THE SOUL COMPARED TO A RIVER.
And as the moisture, which the thirsty earth
Sucks from the sea, to fill her empty veins,
From out her womb at last doth take a birth,
And runs a nymph along the grassy plains:
Long doth she stay, as loth to leave the land,
From whose soft side she first did issue make;
She tastes all places, turns to every hand,
Her flowr'y banks unwilling to forsake:
Yet Nature so her streams doth lead and carry,
As that her course doth make no final stay,
Till she herself unto the ocean marry,
Within whose wat'ry bosom first she lay:
Even so the Soul which in this earthly mould
The Spirit of God doth secretly infuse;
Because at first she doth the earth behold,
And only this material world she views:
At first her mother-earth she holdeth dear,
And doth embrace the world and worldly things:
She flies close by the ground, and hovers here,
And mounts not up with her celestial wings.
Yet under heaven she cannot light on ought
That with her heavenly nature doth agree;
She cannot rest, she cannot fix her thought,
She cannot in this world contented be:
For who did ever yet, in honour, wealth,
Or pleasure of the sense, contentment find? Who ever ceas'd to wish, when he had health? Or having wisdom was not vext in mind?
Then as a bee which among weeds doth fall,
Which seem sweet flowers, with lustre fresh and gay; She lights on that, and this, and tasteth all, But pleas'd with none, doth rise, and soar away; So, when the Soul finds here no true content, And, like Noah's dove, can no sure footing take; She doth return from whence she first was sent, And flies to Him that first her wings did make.
THE SOUL COMPARED TO A VIRGIN WOOED IN MARRIAGE. [From the Same.]
As a king's daughter, being in person sought
Of divers princes, who do neighbour near;
On none of them can fix a constant thought,
Though she to all do lend a gentle ear:
Yet she can love a foreign emperor,
Whom of great worth and power she hears to be;
If she be woo'd but by ambassador,
Or but his letters, or his pictures see:
For well she knows, that when she shall be brought Into the kingdom where her spouse doth reign; Her eyes shall see what she conceiv'd in thought, Himself, his state, his glory, and his train.
So while the virgin Soul on earth doth stay,
She woo'd and tempted is ten thousand ways,
By these great powers, which on the earth bear sway;
The wisdom of the world, wealth, pleasure, praise :
With these sometime she doth her time beguile,
These do by fits her fantasy possess ;
But she distastes them all within a while,
And in the sweetest finds a tediousness.
But if upon the world's Almighty King
She once do fix her humble loving thought;
Who by His picture, drawn in every thing,
And sacred messages, her love hath sought;
Of Him she thinks, she cannot think too much;
This honey tasted still, is ever sweet;
The pleasure of her ravished thought is such,
As almost here she with her bliss doth meet:
But when in Heaven she shall His essence see,
This is her sovereign good, and perfect bliss:
Her longings, wishings, hopes all finished be,
Her joys are full, her motions rest in this.
There is she crown'd with garlands of content,
There doth she manna eat, and nectar drink;
That Presence doth such high delights present,
As never tongue could speak, nor heart could think.
ANTINOUS PRAISES DANCING BEFORE QUEEN PENELOPE. [From Orchestra, or A Poeme of Dauncing.]
For that brave Sun the Father of the Day, Doth love this Earth, the Mother of the Night; And like a reveller in rich array,
Doth dance his galliard in his leman's sight,
Both back, and forth, and sideways, passing light;
His princely grace doth so the gods amaze,
That all stand still and at his beauty gaze.
'But see the Earth, when he approacheth near,
How she for joy doth spring and sweetly smile;
But see again her sad and heavy cheer
When changing places he retires awhile;
But those black clouds he shortly will exile,
And make them all before his presence fly,
As mists consum'd before his cheerful eye.
'And now behold your tender nurse the Air
And common neighbour that aye runs around;
How many pictures and impressions fair
Within her empty regions are there found;
Which to your senses Dancing do propound.
For what are Breath, Speech, Echos, Music, Winds,
But Dancings of the Air in sundry kinds?
'For when you breathe, the air in order moves,
Now in, now out, in time and measure true;
And when you speak, so well she dancing loves,
That doubling oft, and oft redoubling new,
With thousand forms she doth herself endue,
For all the words that from our lips repair
Are nought but tricks and turnings of the air.
'Hence is her prattling daughter Echo born,
That dances to all voices she can hear;
There is no sound so harsh that she doth scorn,
Nor any time wherein she will forbear
The airy pavement with her feet to wear;
And yet her hearing sense is nothing quick,
For after time she endeth every trick.
'And thou sweet Music, Dancing's only life,
The ear's sole happiness, the air's best speech;
Loadstone of fellowship, charming-rod of strife,
The soft mind's Paradise, the sick mind's leech;
With thine own tongue, thou trees and stones canst teach,
That when the Air doth dance her finest measure,
Then art thou born, the gods' and men's sweet pleasure.
'Lastly, where keep the Winds their revelry,
Their violent turnings, and wild whirling hays',
But in the Air's translucent gallery?
Where she herself is turn'd a hundred ways,
While with those Maskers wantonly she plays;
Yet in this misrule, they such rule embrace,
As two at once encumber not the place.
If then fire, air, wand'ring and fixed lights
In every province of the imperial sky,
Yield perfect forms of dancing to your sights,
In vain I teach the ear, that which the eye
With certain view already doth descry.
But for your eyes perceive not all they see,
In this I will your Senses master be.
'For lo the Sea that fleets about the Land,
And like a girdle clips her solid waist,
Music and measure both doth understand;
For his great crystal eye is always cast
Up to the Moon, and on her fixed fast;
And as she danceth in her pallid sphere,
So danceth he about his Centre here.
'Sometimes his proud green waves in order set,
One after other flow unto the shore;
Which, when they have with many kisses wet,
They ebb away in order as before;
And to make known his courtly love the more,
He oft doth lay aside his three-forked mace,
And with his arms the timorous Earth embrace.
'Only the Earth doth stand for ever still,
Her rocks remove not, nor her mountains meet,
(Although some wits enriched with Learning's skill
Say heav'n stands firm, and that the Earth doth fleet,
And swiftly turneth underneath their feet ;)
Yet though the Earth is ever steadfast seen,
On her broad breast hath Dancing ever been.
'For those blue veins that through her body spread,
Those sapphire streams which from great hills do spring
(The Earth's great dugs; for every wight is fed
With sweet fresh moisture from them issuing ;)
Observe a dance in their wild wandering;
And still their dance begets a murmur sweet,
And still the murmur with the dance doth meet.'
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