Tell me no more of minds embracing minds,
And hearts exchang’d for hearts;
That Spirits Spirits meet, as Winds do Winds,
And mix their subt’lest parts;
That two unbodi’d Essences may kiss,
And then like Angels, twist and feel one Bliss.
I was that silly thing that once was wrought
To practice this thin Love;
I climb’d from Sex to Soul, from Soul to Thought;
But thinking there to move,
Headlong, I rowl’d from Thought to Soul, and then
From Soul I lighted at the Sex agen.
As some strict down-look’d men pretend to fast
Who yet in Closets Eat;
So Lovers who profess they Spirits taste,
Feed yet on grosser meat;
I know they boast they Soules to Soules Convey,
How e’r they meet, the Body is the Way.
Come, I will undeceive thee, they that tread
Those vain Aeriall waies,
Are like young Heyrs, and Alchymists misled
To waste their wealth and Daies,
For searching thus to be for ever Rich,
They only find a Med’cine for the Itch.
William Cartwright, 1611-1643 – “No Platonique Love” from Penguin Book of English Verse
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