The Works of Abraham Cowley/Volume 2/Enjoyment
ENJOYMENT.
Then like some wealthy island thou shalt lie,And like the sea about it, I;Thou, like fair Albion to the sailors' sight,Spreading her beauteous bosom all in white;Like the kind Ocean I will be,With loving arms for ever clasping thee.
But I'll embrace thee gentlier far than so;As their fresh banks soft rivers do:Nor shall the proudest planet boast a powerOf making my full love to ebb one hour;It never dry or low can prove,Whilst thy unwasted fountain feeds my love.
Such heat and vigour shall our kisses bear,As if like doves we 'engender'd there:No bound nor rule my pleasures shall endure,In love there's none too much an Epicure:Nought shall my hands or lips control;I'll kiss thee through, I'll kiss thy very soul.
Yet nothing but the night our sports shall know;Night, that's both blind and silent too!Alphæus found not a more secret trace,His lov'd Sicanian fountain to embrace,Creeping so far beneath the sea,Than I will do t'enjoy and feast on thee.
Men, out of wisdom; women, out of pride,The pleasant thefts of love do hide:That may secure thee; but thou 'ast yet from meA more infallible security;For there's no danger I should tellThe joys which are to me unspeakable.