IF thou a reason dost desire to know, My dearest Cynthia, why I love thee so, As when I do enjoy all thy love's store, I am not yet content, but seek for more; When we do kiss so often as the tale Of kisses doth outvie the winter's hail: When I do print them on more close and sweet Than shells of scallops, cockles when they meet, Yet am not satisfied: when I do close Thee nearer to me than the ivy grows Unto the oak: when those white arms of thine Clip me more close than doth the elm the vine: When naked both, thou seemest not to be Contiguous, but continuous parts of me: And we in bodies are together brought So near, our souls may know each other's thought Without a whisper: yet I do aspire To come more close to thee, and to be nigher: Know, 'twas well said, that spirits are too high For bodies, when they meet to satisfy; Our souls having like forms of light and sense, Proceeding from the same intelligence, Desire to mix like to two water drops, Whose union some little hindrance stops, Which meeting both together would be one. For in the steel, and in the adamant stone, One and the same magnetic soul is cause, That with such unseen chains each other draws: So our souls now divided, brook't not well, That being one, they should asunder dwell. Then let me die, that so my soul being free, May join with that her other half in thee, For when in thy pure self it shall abide, It shall assume a body glorified, Being in that high bliss; nor shall we twain Or wish to meet, or fear to part again. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 1. 1887 by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN THE VOYAGE TO VINLAND: 3. GUDRIDA'S PROPHECY by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL THE HIGHER GOOD by THEODORE PARKER SHUT OUT by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 11 by ALFRED TENNYSON FOUR SONNETS: 3 by FRANK DAVIS ASHBURN |