Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume III. Sorrow and Consolation. 1904. | | | | II. Parting and Absence | | To Lucasta | | Richard Lovelace (1618–1658) |
| | | IF to be absent were to be | |
| Away from thee; | |
| Or that, when I am gone, | |
| You or I were alone; | |
| Then, my Lucasta, might I crave | 5 |
| Pity from blustering wind or swallowing wave. | |
| |
| But I ’ll not sigh one blast or gale | |
| To swell my sail, | |
| Or pay a tear to ’suage | |
| The foaming blue-god’s rage; | 10 |
| For, whether he will let me pass | |
| Or no, I ’m still as happy as I was. | |
| |
| Though seas and lands be ’twixt us both, | |
| Our faith and troth, | |
| Like separated souls, | 15 |
| All time and space controls: | |
| Above the highest sphere we meet, | |
| Unseen, unknown; and greet as angels greet. | |
| |
| So, then, we do anticipate | |
| Our after-fate, | 20 |
| And are alive i’ the skies, | |
| If thus our lips and eyes | |
| Can speak like spirits unconfined | |
| In heaven,—their earthly bodies left behind. | | | | |
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