Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/420

 ABRAHAM COWLEY

My dearest Friend, would I had died for thee! Life and this world henceforth will tedious be: Nor shall I know hereafter what to do

If once my griefs prove tedious too. Silent and sad I walk about all day,

As sullen ghosts stalk speechless by

Where their hid treasures lie, Alas' my treasure 's gone; why do I stay?

Say, for you saw us, ye immortal lights,

How oft unwearied have we spent the nights,

Till the Ledrcan stars, so famed for love,

Wonder'd at us from above' We spent them not in toys, in lusts, or wine;

But search of deep Philosophy,

Wit, Eloquence, and Poetry Arts which I loved, for they, my Friend, were thine.

Ye fields of Cambridge, our dear Cambridge, say,

Have ye not seen us walking every day ?

Was there a tree about which did not know The love betwixt us two ?

Henceforth, ye gentle trees, for ever fade; Or your sad branches thicker join, And into darksome bhades combine,

Dark as the grave wherein my Friend is laid'

Large was his soul ; as large a soul as e'er

Submitted to inform a body here;

High as the place 'twas shortly in Heaven to have,

But low and humble as his grave;

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