Yet he does himself excuse;
Nor indeed without a cause :
For, according to the laws,
Why did Chloe once refuse ?
Nor indeed without a cause :
For, according to the laws,
Why did Chloe once refuse ?
Marvell - Poems
69
XX.
^ And I parting should appear
Like the gourmand Hebrew dead
While, with quails and manna fed^
He does through the desert err,
XXI.
" Or tlie witch that midnight wakes
For the fern, whose magic weed
In one minute casts the seed
And invisible him makes.
xxn.
** Grentler times for love are meant. :
Who for parting pleasure strain,
Grather roses in the rain,
Wet themselves and spoil their scent
XXIII.
** Farewell, therefore, all the fruit
Which I could from love receive :
Joy will not with sorrow weave,
Nor will I this grief pollute.
xxrv.
^ Fate, I come, as dark, as sad.
As thy malice could desire ;
Yet bring with me all the fire,
That love in his torches had. "
Digitized by VjOOQIC
70 THE POEMS
XXV.
At these words away he broke,
As who long has praying lien,
To his head's-man makes the sign
And receives the parting stroke.
XXVI.
But hence virgins all beware ;
Last night he with Phlogis slept,
This night for Dorinda kept,
And but rid to take the air.
xxvn.
Yet he does himself excuse;
Nor indeed without a cause :
For, according to the laws,
Why did Chloe once refuse ?
Digitized by
Google
OF MARVELL. 71
THE DEFINITION OF LOVE.
I.
My Love is of a birth as rare
As *iisy for object, strange and high ;
It was begotten by despair,
Upon impossibility.
n.
Magnanimous despair alone
Could show me so divine a thing.
Where feeble hope could ne'er have flown,
But vainly flapped its tinsel wing.
III.
And yet I quickly might arrive
Where my extended soul is fixed ;
But fate does iron wedges drive,
And always crowds itself betwixt
IV.
For fate with jealous eye does see
Two perfect loves, nor lets them close ;
Their union would her ruin be.
And her tyrannic jwwer depose.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
72 THE POEMS
V.
And therefore her decrees of steel
Us as the distant poles have placed,
(Though Love's whole world on us doth wheel)
Not by themselves to be embraced,
VI.
Unless the giddy heaven fall,
And earth some new convulsion tear.
And, us to join, the world should all
Be cramped into a planisphere.
XX.
^ And I parting should appear
Like the gourmand Hebrew dead
While, with quails and manna fed^
He does through the desert err,
XXI.
" Or tlie witch that midnight wakes
For the fern, whose magic weed
In one minute casts the seed
And invisible him makes.
xxn.
** Grentler times for love are meant. :
Who for parting pleasure strain,
Grather roses in the rain,
Wet themselves and spoil their scent
XXIII.
** Farewell, therefore, all the fruit
Which I could from love receive :
Joy will not with sorrow weave,
Nor will I this grief pollute.
xxrv.
^ Fate, I come, as dark, as sad.
As thy malice could desire ;
Yet bring with me all the fire,
That love in his torches had. "
Digitized by VjOOQIC
70 THE POEMS
XXV.
At these words away he broke,
As who long has praying lien,
To his head's-man makes the sign
And receives the parting stroke.
XXVI.
But hence virgins all beware ;
Last night he with Phlogis slept,
This night for Dorinda kept,
And but rid to take the air.
xxvn.
Yet he does himself excuse;
Nor indeed without a cause :
For, according to the laws,
Why did Chloe once refuse ?
Digitized by
OF MARVELL. 71
THE DEFINITION OF LOVE.
I.
My Love is of a birth as rare
As *iisy for object, strange and high ;
It was begotten by despair,
Upon impossibility.
n.
Magnanimous despair alone
Could show me so divine a thing.
Where feeble hope could ne'er have flown,
But vainly flapped its tinsel wing.
III.
And yet I quickly might arrive
Where my extended soul is fixed ;
But fate does iron wedges drive,
And always crowds itself betwixt
IV.
For fate with jealous eye does see
Two perfect loves, nor lets them close ;
Their union would her ruin be.
And her tyrannic jwwer depose.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
72 THE POEMS
V.
And therefore her decrees of steel
Us as the distant poles have placed,
(Though Love's whole world on us doth wheel)
Not by themselves to be embraced,
VI.
Unless the giddy heaven fall,
And earth some new convulsion tear.
And, us to join, the world should all
Be cramped into a planisphere.
