Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A RAPTURE, by JOHN HALL (1627-1656)


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A RAPTURE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Come, julia, come! Let's once disbody what
Last Line: But tedious durance in eternity.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hall Of Durham, John


COME, Julia, come! let's once disbody what
Strait matter ties to this and not to that;
We'll disengage; our bloodless form shall fly
Beyond the reach of earth, where ne'er an eye,
That peeps through spectacles of flesh, shall know
Where we intend, or what we mean to do.
From all contagion of the flesh remov'd,
We'll sit in judgement on those pairs that lov'd
In old and latter times; then will we tear
Their chaplets that did act by slavish fear,
Who cherish'd causeless griefs, and did deny
Cupid's prerogative by doubt or sigh;
But they that mov'd by confidence, and clos'd
In one refining flame, and never los'd
Their thoughts on earth, but bravely did aspire
Unto their proper element of fire,
To these we'll judge that happiness, to be
The witnesses of our felicity.
Thus we'll like angels move, nor will we bind
In words the copious language of our mind,
Such as we know not to conceive, much less,
Without destroying in their birth, express:
Thus will we live, and 't may be, cast an eye
How far Elysium doth beneath us lie;
What need we care though milky currents run
Among the silken meadows, though the sun
Doth still preserve by's ever-waking ray
A never discontinued spring or day?
That sun, though all his heat be to it brought,
Cannot exhale thy vapour of a thought.
No, no, my goddess! yet will thou and I
Divested of all flesh so folded lie,
That ne'er a bodied nothing shall perceive
How we unite, how we together cleave;
Nor think this, while our feathered minutes may
Fall under measure, time itself can stay
T' attend on pleasures, for what else would be
But tedious Durance in Eternity.





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