The Works of Abraham Cowley/Volume 2/Platonick Love
PLATONICK LOVE.
Indeed I must confess,When souls mix 't is an happiness;But not complete till bodies too combine,And closely as our minds together join:But half of heaven the souls in glory taste,Till by love in heaven, at last,Their bodies too are plac'd.
In thy immortal partMan, as well as I, thou art;But something 't is that differs thee and me;And we must one even in that difference be.I thee, both as a man and woman, prize;For a perfect love impliesLove in all capacities. Can that for true love pass,When a fair woman courts her glass?Something unlike must in love's likeness be;His wonder is, one, and variety:For he, whose soul nought but a soul can move,Does a new Narcissus prove,And his own image love.
That souls do beauty know,'T is to the bodies' help they owe;If, when they know 't, they straight abuse that trust,And shut the body from 't, 't is as unjustAs if I brought my dearest friend to seeMy mistress, and at th' instant heShould steal her quite from me.