| Herbert J.C. Grierson, ed. (1886–1960). Metaphysical Lyrics & Poems of the 17th C. 1921. |
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| Abraham Cowley |
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| 61. The Change |
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| LOVE in her Sunny Eyes does basking play; | |
| Love walks the pleasant Mazes of her Hair; | |
| Love does on both her Lips for ever stray; | |
| And sows and reaps a thousand kisses there. | |
| In all her outward parts Love 's always seen; | 5 |
| But, oh, He never went within. | |
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| Within Love's foes, his greatest foes abide, | |
| Malice, Inconstancy, and Pride. | |
| So the Earths face, Trees, Herbs, and Flowers do dress, | |
| With other beauties numberless: | 10 |
| But at the Center, Darkness is, and Hell; | |
| There wicked Spirits, and there the Damned dwell. | |
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| With me alas, quite contrary it fares; | |
| Darkness and Death lies in my weeping eyes, | |
| Despair and Paleness in my face appears, | 15 |
| And Grief, and Fear, Love's greatest Enemies; | |
| But, like the Persian-Tyrant, Love within | |
| Keeps his proud Court, and ne're is seen. | |
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| Oh take my Heart, and by that means you'll prove | |
| Within too stor'd enough of Love: | 20 |
| Give me but Yours, I'll by that change so thrive, | |
| That Love in all my parts shall live. | |
| So powerful is this change, it render can, | |
| My outside Woman, and your inside Man. | |
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