Thursday, April 20, 2023

Andrew Marvell (1621-1678)


Image from Marvell's Miscellaneous Poems


















from The Garden

What wondrous life in this I lead! 

  • Ripe apples drop about my head; 
    The luscious clusters of the vine 
    Upon my mouth do crush their wine; 
    The nectarine and curious peach 
    Into my hands themselves do reach; 
    Stumbling on melons, as I pass, 
    Ensnared with flowers, I fall on grass.
  • Meanwhile the mind from pleasure less 
    Withdraws into its happiness; 

  • The mind, that ocean where each kind 
    Does straight its own resemblance find; 
    Yet it creates, transcending these, 
    Far other worlds, and other seas; 
    Annihilating all that's made 
    To a green thought in a green shade
  • Casting the body's vest aside,
    My soul into the boughs does glide.

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