Katherine Philips. A Dialogue of Absence 'twixt Lucasia and Orinda.

Katherine Philips

A Dialogue of Absence
'twixt Lucasia and Orinda.
Set by Mr. Hen. Lawes

Luc. Say, my Orinda, why so sad?
Orin. Absence from thee doth tear my heart;
Which, since with thine it union had,
    Each parting splits.
Luc. And can we part?
Orin. Our bodies must.
Luc. But never we:
    Our souls, without the help of Sense,
By ways more noble and more free
Can meet, and hold intelligence.
Orin. And yet those Souls, when first they met,
    Lookt out at windows through the eyes.
Luc. But soon did such acquaintance get,
    Nor Fate nor Time can them surprise.
Orin. Absence will rob us of that bliss
    To which this friendship title brings:
Love's fruits and joys are made by this
    Useless as crowns to captiv'd Kings.
Luc. Friendship's a Science, and we know
    There Contemplation's most employ'd.
Orin. Religion's so, but practic too,
    And both by niceties destroy'd.
Luc. But who ne'er parts can never meet,
    And so that happiness were lost.
Orin. Thus Pain and Death are sadly sweet,
    Since Health and Heav'n such price must cost.

Chorus.
But we shall come where no rude hand shall sever,
And there we'll meet and part no more for ever.

* [AJ Note: Little World, cf. Donne's Holy Sonnet V ]

Source:
Philips, Katherine. Poems, 1678.
in Minor Poets of the Caroline Period.
George Saintsbury, ed.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905. 522.

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