Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/325

 284 A Divine Rapture

like two little bank-dividing brooks, That wash the pebbles with their wanton streamy And having ranged and searched a thousand nooks, Meet both at length in silver-breasted Thames,

Where in a greater current they conjoin: So I my Best-beloved's am, so He is mine.

E'en so we met; and after long pursuit, E'en so we joined, we both became entire,

No need for either to renew a suit,

For I was flax, and He was flameb of fire: Our firm-unjtcd souls did more than twine;

So I my Bebt-bcloved's am; so He is mine.

If all those glittering Monarchs, that command The servile quarters of this earthly ball,

Should tender in exchange their shares of land, I would not change my fortunes for them all: Their wealth is but a counter to my coin:

The world 's but theirs; but my Beloved 's mine.

285 Epigram Resfice Ymem

MY soul, sit thou a patient looker-on; Judge not the play before the play is done. Her plot hath many changes; every day Speaks a new scene; the last act crowns the play. 1 See Rochester, p. 492.

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