Henry King

Fair one, why cannot you an old man love
He may as useful, and more constant prove
Experience shews you that maturer years Are a security against those fears Youth will expose you to; whose wild desire As it is hot, so 'tis as rash as fi...

I know no fitter subject for your view Then this, a meditation ripe for you,
As you for it
Which when you read you'l see What kind of wife your self will one day bee:
Which happy day be neer you, and may this Remain with you as earn...

Essex twice made unhappy by a Wife,
Yet Marry'd worse unto the Peoples strife:
He who by two Divorces did untie His Bond of Wedlock and of Loyalty:
Who was by Easiness of Nature bred,

Fair one, you did on me bestow Comparisons too sweet to ow;
And but I found them sent from you I durst not think they could be true
But 'tis your uncontrolled power Goddess-like to produce a flower,
And by your breath, without more ...

Vhat is th' Existence of Mans life
But open war, or slumber'd strife
Where sickness to his sense presents The combat of the Elements:
And never feels a perfect Peace Till deaths cold hand signs his release

Since thou hast view'd some Gorgon, and art grown A solid stone:
To bring again to softness thy hard heart Is past my art
Ice may relent to water in a thaw;
But stone made flesh Loves Chymistry ne're saw

Love is our Reasons Paradox, which still Against the judgment doth maintain the Will:
And governs by such arbitrary laws,
It onely makes the Act our Likings cause:
We have no brave revenge, but to forgo Our full desires, and starve ...