1A noble pair, in love without compare,
2Heroic spirits both, lovely and fair,
3Whose hearts were counterchanged
—then no wonder 4They could not possibly subsist asunder.
5He, in this grand rebellion
late was killed 6For his good king; his loyal blood was spilled,
7Which from the pregnant earth sprung up in fame,
8Honoring him with a never-dying name.
9This gallant lass, thus having lost her love,
10Disdained to imitate the turtledove
, 11Who mourning sits upon a withered spray
: 12Her noble heart refused to live one day
13Without her love. Earth no contentment yields.
14She vows to follow him to the Elysian fields
, 15Then takes a pistol in her snowy hand.
16Like a Roman Lucrece
, so did she stand, 17Who did prefer her honor ’fore
her life, 18And in her trembling bosom thrust her knife;
19Or like that Babylonish virgin
sweet 20Who saw her love lie bleeding at her feet—
21She, with his sword, her spotless breast did pierce,
22Which makes her live still in immortal verse—
23So this heroic maid displayed her breast
24On which the god of love
was proud to rest; 25The sulfurous mouth
placed at her generous heart, 26Her noble mind triumphs o’er death and smart
. 27To Heaven she rolls her sparkling, dying eyes;
28From her undaunted breast her spirit flies.
29Even so a spotless lily falls and dies.
30As this declares a magnanimous
spirit, 31So she the glory of it doth inherit.
32This she did do to follow earthy love,
33And thou, my soul, whose joys and hopes above
34Are placed, still hank’rest
, hovering here below: 35O, when wilt thou to thy Redeemer go?
36Thou keep’st afluttering here ’bout this base earth.
37My soul, I doubt
thou dost forget thy birth: 38Thou art a ray of that invisible light:
39Thy wings no imping
need; then take thy flight! 40Leave then this low and gloomy earthly sphere;
41What dost thou mean—what dost thou hope, or fear?
42Tell me, is thy eternal business here?
43He whom thou lovest is gone: to Heaven He’s fled.
44Why dost thou seek the living amongst the dead?
45My active faith took wing and late did fly
46Up to the top of Canaan’s Calvary
; 47There did I see, with faith’s resplendent
eye, 48The fountain of all love, my Saviour, die.
49There did Longuives
pierce that guiltless breast 50In which the faithful shall in glory rest.
51Ay me, there did His dying, quickening
blood 52Flow from His side for our eternal good;
53To Heaven His righteous soul did take His flight,
54Leaving the universe lapped up in night.
55O admirable, unparalleled affection,
56Thus, by His fall, recovering our defection
! 57I am amazed at His infinite love;
58For us he left his glorious throne above.
59Though for a good man one would deign
to die, 60Yet who would do so for his enemy?
61Damon and Pythias
would die for one another; 62Pollux
divided splendor with his brother; 63Patroclus and Achilles
’s loves excel; 64Theseus revenged Pirithous’s death in Hell
; 65When lovely Lisle saw Lucas
bleeding lie, 66He on his trembling bosom straight did die.
67Thus do these stories
and these fables teach 68And show to us how far our love may reach;
69But He (my soul) His precious blood did lose
70For us (ay me), for us: His curséd foes.
71Considering this, my soul, how canst thou stay?
72Now He is gone, dost thou not know the way
— 73When little infants’ new-created souls
74Do easily fly above or
star or poles, 75And from their tender mother’s uberous
breast 76Do often fly to their eternal rest?
77And thou, my soul, withered and worn with grief:
78Think’st in this dunghill
earth to find relief? 79Believe it: terrene
hopes are all but vain, 80For thou must cast
thy hackle
once again 81Before thou canst possess those endless joys,
82Compared with which all worldly pomps are toys
.