Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900.djvu/215

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

Hearts remote, yet not asunder;
  Distance, and no space was seen
  'Twixt the turtle and his queen:
But in them it were a wonder.

So between them love did shine,
  That the turtle saw his right
  Flaming in the phœnix' sight;
Either was the other's mine.

Property was thus appall'd,
  That the self was not the same;
  Single nature's double name
Neither two nor one was call'd.

Reason, in itself confounded,
  Saw division grow together;
  To themselves yet either neither;
Simple were so well compounded,

That it cried, 'How true a twain
  Seemeth this concordant one!
  Love hath reason, reason none
If what parts can so remain.'

Whereupon it made this threne
  To the phœnix and the dove,
  Co-supremes and stars of love,
As chorus to their tragic scene.


THRENOS

Beauty, truth, and rarity,
Grace in all simplicity,
Here enclosed in cinders lie.