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At the Author’s Last Going into Germany
IN what torn ship so ever I embark, | |
| That ship shall be my emblem of Thy ark; | |
| What sea soever swallow me, that flood | |
| Shall be to me an emblem of Thy blood; | |
| Though Thou with clouds of anger do disguise | 5 |
| Thy face, yet through that mask I know those eyes, | |
| Which, though they turn away sometimes, | |
| They never will despise. | |
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| I sacrifice this island unto Thee, | |
| And all whom I love there, 1 and who love me; | 10 |
| When I have put our seas 2 ’twixt them and me, | |
| Put thou Thy seas 3 betwixt my sins and Thee. | |
| As the tree’s sap doth seek the root below | |
| In winter, in my winter now I go, | |
| Where none but Thee, the eternal root | 15 |
| Of true love, I may know. | |
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| Nor Thou nor Thy religion dost control | |
| The amorousness of an harmonious soul; | |
| But Thou wouldst have that love Thyself; as Thou | |
| Art jealous, Lord, so I am jealous now; | 20 |
| Thou lovest not, till from loving more Thou free | |
| My soul; Who ever gives, takes liberty; | |
| Oh, if Thou carest not whom I love, | |
| Alas! Thou lovest not me. | |
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| Seal then this bill of my divorce to all, | 25 |
| On whom those fainter beams of love did fall; | |
| Marry those loves, which in youth scatter’d be | |
| On fame, 4 wit, hopes—false mistresses—to Thee. | |
| Churches are best for prayer, that have least light; | |
| To see God only, I go out of sight; | 30 |
| And to escape stormy days, I choose | |
| An everlasting night | |
