Poem by George Herbert

Love (Immortal Love, authour of this great frame)

I.

Immortal Love, authour of this great frame,
Sprung from that beautie which can never fade;
How hath man parcel'd out thy glorious name,
And thrown it on that dust which thou hast made,

While mortall love doth all the title gain!
Which siding with invention, they together
Bear all the sway, possessing heart and brain,
(Thy workmanship) and give thee share in neither.

Wit fancies beautie, beautie raiseth wit:
The world is theirs; they two play out the game,
Thou standing by: and though thy glorious name
Wrought our deliverance from the infernall pit,

Who sings thy praise? onely a skarf or glove
Doth warm our hands, and make them write of love.

II.

Immortal Heat, O let thy greater flame
Attract the lesser to it: let those fires
Which shall consume the world, first make it tame,
And kindle in our hearts such true desires,

As may consume our lusts, and make thee way.
Then shall our hearts pant thee; then shall our brain
All her invention on thine altar lay,
And there in hymnes send back thy fire again:

Our eies shall see thee, which before saw dust;
Dust blown by wit, till that they both were blinde:
Thou shalt recover all thy goods in kinde,
Who wert diseased by usurping lust:

All knees shall bow to thee; all wits shall rise,
And praise him who did make and mend our eies.

1. The Thanksgiving
2. Jordan
3. Joseph's Coat
4. The Temper
5. Affliction

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