The Invocation of the Elements, The Longest Night in the Year, 1655

Have patience, my afflicted soul;
Thou shalt not long in darkness rowl2
.
I will the Elements3
 implore.
Then shall I need to beg no more
to come unto my last, best feast4
.
The limpid5
 lady’s my first guest.
Cool crystal Water, take thy part:
First, that which circles my sad heart6
.
Or, if my tears will satisfy,
To tears I’ll quickly rarefy7
Number them not. Count8
 sand or star—9
You’ll sooner number them by far10
.
Oh11
that they had been shed for sin12
,
Then they in heaven had bottled been.
Why were they shed? Oh ask not why13
.
If I repeat my woes, I die14
A double death. Oh ask no more,
Let me alone my loss deplore15
.
Fair nymph, thou’st oft quenched thirst in me.
Retaliate and drink up me.
Seven lovely buds thou hast drawn dry.
Oh spare the rest, or else I die
A treble16
 death. Oh hear me speak!
Let not my heart so often break
But let death strike me once for all—
A little blow will make me fall.
Thou didst a whole world once involve17
.
Then let me into thee dissolve18
.
Sweet Air, refresher of mankind,
Let me at last thy favor find.
Do but exhaust19
a little vapor20
,
Thou’lt quickly blow out my life’s taper21
.
’Twill be my last request to thee;
Thou’rt free to all, be so to me.
I oft have made thee such a feast22
That all the odors of the East
Could not with their sweet breath compare,
Blossoms so lovely, young, and rare:
The woodbine23
, ere Aurora doth arise,
The July-flower24
 before the shadow flies,
The dewy violet25
, or the half-blown rose26
—
O say no more! My grief o’erflows.
I into tears am rarified27
,
And thou thy part will be denied.
Oh take this sigh28
, then, for thy part,
For such another breaks my heart29
.
Most noble and illustrious fire,
Whom (though I know not) I admire,
If30
 such an Element there be,
My strange petition is to thee.
O hearken to my last desire
And help my sad soul to expire.
Contract31
 thy vigor, hold thy heat,
Then will my heart forget to beat32
And trepidate33
 within my breast.
O then how sweet will be my rest34
;
What a sweet slumber shall I take
When my sad dreams do me forsake
And cease my afflicted soul t’afright.
Welcome, O welcome, that blessed night35
.
Then do but my short breath exhale,
My structure straight to dust will fall.
Welcome, O welcome, that blessed night,
Which ushers in eternal light.
For what is death but cold and night36
,
Life being only heat and light?
Then all my heat to thee I’ll give,
And though I die, in thee I live.
Dust, or Earth
Dear Dust37
, from thee I drew my birth.
Then come, and ‘tis but Earth to Earth38
.
My lovely children thou hast taken.
Shall their sad mother be forsaken?
Aye me, thou took’st them young and fair39
,
And leav’st me here with hoary40
 hair.
They, lovely fair with snowy skin41
,
Did too, too soon thy favor win.
But I, involved with sin and sorrow,
Sadly expect thee night and morrow.
I ask no pyramid nor stately tomb;
Do but involve me in thy spacious womb42
.
To beg this once, dear mother, give me leave:
O let thy bowels yearn43
 and me receive.

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