Thomas Carew. To My Mistress in Absence.

Thomas Carew

TO MY MISTRESS IN ABSENCE.

THOUGH I must live here, and by force
Of your command suffer divorce ;
Though I am parted, yet my mind,
That's more myself, still stays behind.
I breathe in you, you keep my heart,             5
'Twas but a carcase that did part.
Then though our bodies are disjoin'd,
As things that are to place confined,
Yet let our boundless spirits meet,
And in love's sphere each other greet ;          10
There let us work a mystic wreath,
Unknown unto the world beneath :
There let our clasp'd loves sweetly twin,
There let our secret thoughts unseen
Like nets be weaved and inter-twined,        15
Wherewith we'll catch each other's mind.
There, whilst our souls do sit and kiss,
Tasting a sweet and subtle bliss
(Such as gross lovers cannot know
Whose hands and lips meet here below),     20
Let us look down, and mark what pain
Our absent bodies here sustain,
And smile to see how far away
The one doth from the other stray ;
Yet burn and languish with desire                25
To join and quench their mutual fire ;
There let us joy to see from far
Our emulous flames at loving war,
Whilst both with equal lustre shine,
Mine bright as yours, yours bright as mine. 30
There, seated in those heavenly bowers,
We'll cheat the lag and ling'ring hours,
Making our bitter absence sweet,
Till souls and bodies both may meet.

Source:
Vincent, Arthur, ed. The Poems of Thomas Carew.
London: George Routledge & Sons, Ltd., nd. 29.

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