Red Roses
Platonick Love from Poems by John Hall
chosen by Steph
Come (Dearest Julia) though and I
Will knit us in so strickt a tie,
As shall with greater pow’r engage
Then feeble charms of marriage;
We will be friends, out thoughts shall go,
Without impeachment, too and fro,
The fame desires shall elevate
Our mingled souls, the self-fame hate
Shall cause Aversion, we will beare
One Sympathising hope and fear,
And for to move more close, wee’l frame
Our triumphs and our teares the same;
Yet will we ne’re so grossely dare
As our ignobler selves small share,
Let men desire, like those above
Unmatter’d forms, wee’l onely love;
And teach the ruler world to shame
When heat encreaseth to a flame:
Love’s like a landskap which doth stand
Smooth at a distance, rough at hand;
Or like a fire from which afarre
Doth gently warm, consumes when near.
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