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A PARODIE by GEORGE HERBERT

Poet Analysis

First Line: SOUL'S JOY, WHEN THOU ART GONE
Last Line: THOU COM'ST, AND DOST RELIEVE.

SOULS joy, when thou art gone,
And I alone;
Which cannot be,
Because thou dost abide with me,
And I depend on thee:

Yet, when thou dost suppresse
The cheerfulnesse
Of thy abode,
And in my powers not stirre abroad,
But leave me to my load;

O what a damp and shade
Doth me invade!
No stormie night
Can so afflict, or so affright,
As thy eclipsed light.

Ah, Lord! do not withdraw,
Lest want of aw
Make sinne appeare;
And, when thou dost but shine lesse cleare,
Say that thou art not here.

And then what life I have,
(While Sinne doth rave,
And falsly boast,
That I may seek, but thou art lost,)
Thou, and alone thou, know'st.

O what a deadly cold
Doth me infold!
I half beleeve
That Sinne says true: but, while I grieve,
Thou com'st, and dost relieve.



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