The Works of Abraham Cowley/Volume 2/The Bargain

by Abraham Cowley

THE BARGAIN.

Take heed, take heed, thou lovely maid,
Nor be by glittering ills betray'd;
Thyself for money! oh, let no man know
The price of beauty fall'n so low!
What dangers ought'st thou not to dread,
When Love, that's blind, is by blind Fortune led?

The foolish Indian, that sells
His precious gold for beads and bells,
Does a more wise and gainful traffick hold
Than thou, who sell'st thyself for gold.
What gains in such a bargain are?
He 'll in thy mines dig better treasures far.

Can gold, alas! with thee compare?
The sun, that makes it, 's not so fair;
The sun, which can nor make nor ever see
A thing so beautiful as thee,
In all the journeys he does pass,
Though the sea serv'd him for a looking-glass.

Bold was the wretch that cheapen'd thee;
Since Magus, none so bold as he:
Thou 'rt so divine a thing, that thee to buy
Is to be counted simony;
Too dear he'll find his sordid price
Has forfeited that and the Benefice.

If it be lawful thee to buy,
There 's none can pay that rate but I;
Nothing on earth a fitting price can be,
But what on earth 's most like to thee;
And that my heart does only bear;
For there thyself, thy very self is there.

So much thyself does in me live,
That, when it for thyself I give,
’Tis but to change that piece of gold for this,
Whose stamp and value equal is;
And, that full weight too may be had,
My soul and body, two grains more, I 'll add.