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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO HER BODY by EDWARD HERBERT

First Line: REGARDFUL PRESENCE! WHOSE FIX'D MAJESTY
Last Line: ITSELF LIKE THEE WOULD REST, LIKE THEE WOULD MOVE.
Subject(s): BODIES;

REGARDFUL presence! whose fix'd majesty
Darts admiration on the gazing look
That brings it not: state sits enthron'd in thee,
Divulging forth her laws in the fair book
Of thy commandëments, which none mistook
That ever humbly came therein to see
Their own unworthiness. Oh! how can I
Enough admire that symmetry, express'd
In new proportions, which doth give the lie
To that arithmetic which hath profess'd
All numbers to be hers? Thy harmony
Comes from the spheres, and there doth prove
Strange measures so well grac'd, as majesty
Itself like thee would rest, like thee would move.



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