The Abraham Cowley Text and Image Archive

The Injoyment
from The Mistress, Poems (1656; editor's copy; poem untitled in 1668)

1.
THen like some wealthy Island thou shalt ly;
   And like the Sea about it, I;
Thou like fair Albion, to the Sailors Sight,
Spreading her beauteous Bosom all in White:
   Like the kind Ocean I will bee,
With loving Arms for ever clasping Thee.
2.
But I'll embrace Thee gentli'er far than so;
   As their fresh Banks soft Rivers do,
Nor shall the proudest Planet boast a power
Of making my full Love to ebb one hour;  10
   It never dry or low can prove,
Whilst thy unwasted Fountain feeds my Love.
3.
Such Heat and Vigour shall our Kisses bear,
   As if like Doves we'engendred there.
No bound nor rule my pleasures shall endure,
In Love there's none too much an Epicure.
   Nought shall my hands or Lips controul;
I'll kiss Thee through, I'll kiss thy very Soul.
4.
Yet nothing, but the Night our sports shall know;
   Night that's both blind and silent too.  20
Alpheus found not a more secret trace,
His lov'd Sicanian Fountain to embrace,
   Creeping so far beneath the Sea,
Then I will do t'enjoy, and feast on Thee.
5.
Men, out of Wisdom; Women, out of Pride,
   The pleasant Thefts of Love do hide.
That may secure thee; but thou'hast yet from Me
A more infallible Securitie,
   For there's no danger I should tell
The Joys, which are to me unspeakable.  30

This text normalized in the same way as Cowley's "Hymn to Light."
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