Abraham Cowley Poem. The Thraldom. from "The Mistress"

Abraham Cowley

Bordone. Venetian Lovers. 1550s. The Brera, Milan

Bordone. Venetian Lovers.
1550s? The Brera, Milan.

from "The Mistress"

THE THRALDOM.

I came, I saw, and was undone;
Lightning did through my bones and marrow run;
      A pointed pain pierc'd deep my heart;
A swift cold trembling seiz'd on every part;
      My head turn'd round, nor could it bear
      The poison that was enter'd there.

      So a destroying angel's breath
Blows-in the plague, and with it hasty death;
      Such was the pain, did so begin,
To the poor wretch, when Legion enter'd in.
      "Forgive me, God!" I cry'd; for I
Flatter'd myself I was to die.

      But quickly to my cost I found,
'T was cruel Love, not Death, had made the wound;
      Death a more generous rage does use;
Quarter to all he conquers does refuse:
      Whilst Love with barbarous mercy saves
      The vanquish'd lives, to make them slaves.

      I am thy slave then; let me know,
Hard master! the great task I have to do:
      Who pride and scorn do undergo.
In tempests and rough seas thy galleys row;
      They pant, and groan, and sigh; but find
      Their sighs increase the angry wind.

      Like an Egyptian tyrant, some
Thou weariest out in building but a tomb;
      Others, with sad and tedious art,
Labour i' th' quarries of a stony heart:
      Of all the works thou dost assign
      To all the several slaves of thine,
Employ me, mighty Love! to dig the mine.

Source:
Cowley, Abraham. The Works of Mr. A. Cowley. vol 2.
Richard Hurd, ed.
London: John Sharpe, 1809. 5-6.

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