The Works of Abraham Cowley/Volume 2/The Change
For works with similar titles, see Change.
THE CHANGE.
Love in her sunny eyes does basking play;
Love walks the pleasant mazes of her hair;
Love does on both her lips for ever stray,
And sows and reaps a thousand kisses there:
In all her outward parts Love's always seen;
But, oh! he never went within.
Love walks the pleasant mazes of her hair;
Love does on both her lips for ever stray,
And sows and reaps a thousand kisses there:
In all her outward parts Love's always seen;
But, oh! he never went within.
Within, Love's foes, his greatest foes, abide,
Malice, Inconstancy, and Pride:
So, the earth's face trees, herbs, and flowers, do dress,
With other beauties numberless;
But at the centre darkness is, and hell;
There wicked spirits, and there the damned, dwell.
Malice, Inconstancy, and Pride:
So, the earth's face trees, herbs, and flowers, do dress,
With other beauties numberless;
But at the centre darkness is, and hell;
There wicked spirits, and there the damned, dwell.
With me, alas! quite contrary it fares;
Darkness and death lie in my weeping eyes,
Despair, and paleness, in my face appears,
And grief, and fear, Love's greatest enemies;
But, like the Persian tyrant, Love within
Keeps his proud court, and ne'er is seen.
Darkness and death lie in my weeping eyes,
Despair, and paleness, in my face appears,
And grief, and fear, Love's greatest enemies;
But, like the Persian tyrant, Love within
Keeps his proud court, and ne'er is seen.
Oh! take my heart, and by that means you'll prove
Within too stor'd enough of love:
Give me but yours, I'll by that change so thrive,
That love in all my parts shall live.
So powerful is this change, it render can
My outside Woman, and your inside Man.
Within too stor'd enough of love:
Give me but yours, I'll by that change so thrive,
That love in all my parts shall live.
So powerful is this change, it render can
My outside Woman, and your inside Man.