Page:The Works of Abraham Cowley - volume 2 (ed. Aikin) (1806).djvu/34

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20
COWLEY'S POEMS.

LEAVING ME, AND THEN LOVING MANY.

So men, who once have cast the truth away,
Forsook by God, do strange wild lusts obey;
So the vain Gentiles, when they left t' adore
One Deity, could not stop at thousands more:
Their zeal was senseless straight, and boundless, grown;
They worship'd many a beast and many a stone.
Ah, fair apostate! couldst thou think to flee
From Truth and Goodness, yet keep unity?
I reign'd alone; and my blest self could call
The universal monarch of her all.
Mine, mine, her fair East-Indies were above,
Where those suns rise that cheer the world of Love;
Where beauties shine like gems of richest price;
Where coral grows, and every breath is spice:
Mine too her rich West-Indies were below,
Where mines of gold and endless treasures grow.
But, as when the Pellæan conqueror died,
Many small princes did his crown divide;
So, since ray love his vanquish'd world forsook,
Murder'd by poisons from her falsehood took,
An hundred petty kings claim each their part,
And rend that glorious empire of her heart.