COWLEY.
37
No flesh is now the same 'twas then in me,
And that my mind is chang'd yourself may see.
The same thoughts to retain still, and intents,
Were more inconstant far: for accidents
Must of all things most strangely inconstant prove,
If from one subject they t' another move:
My member's then, the father members were
From whence these take their birth, which now are here.
If then this body love what th' other did,
'Twere incest, which by nature is forbid.
And that my mind is chang'd yourself may see.
The same thoughts to retain still, and intents,
Were more inconstant far: for accidents
Must of all things most strangely inconstant prove,
If from one subject they t' another move:
My member's then, the father members were
From whence these take their birth, which now are here.
If then this body love what th' other did,
'Twere incest, which by nature is forbid.
The love of different women is, in geographical poetry, compared to travels through different countries:
Hast thou not found each woman's breast
:(The land where thou hast travelled)
Either by savages possest,
:Or wild, and uninhabited?
What joy couldst take, or what repose,
In countries so uncivilis'd as those?
Lust, the scorching dog-star, here
:Rages with immoderate heat;
Whilst Pride, the rugged Northern Bear,
:In others makes the cold too great.
And where these are temperate known,
The soil's all barren sand, or rocky stone.
Cowley.
:(The land where thou hast travelled)
Either by savages possest,
:Or wild, and uninhabited?
What joy couldst take, or what repose,
In countries so uncivilis'd as those?
Lust, the scorching dog-star, here
:Rages with immoderate heat;
Whilst Pride, the rugged Northern Bear,
:In others makes the cold too great.
And where these are temperate known,
The soil's all barren sand, or rocky stone.
Cowley.
D 3
A lover
