Platonic Love by Abraham Cowley
b"Cowley read by Classic Poetry Aloud:\\nhttp://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/\\n\\nGiving voice to the poetry of the past.\\n\\n---------------------------------------------------\\n\\n Platonic Love \\nby Abraham Cowley (1618 \\u2013 1667)\\n\\nIndeed I must confess,\\n When souls mix 'tis an happiness, \\nBut not complete till bodies too do join,\\nAnd both our wholes into one whole combine;\\nBut half of heaven the souls in glory taste\\n Till by love in heaven at last\\n Their bodies too are placed. \\n\\n In thy immortal part\\n Man, as well as I, thou art.\\nBut something 'tis that differs thee and me,\\nAnd we must one even in that difference be.\\nI thee both as a man and woman prize,\\n For a perfect love implies\\n Love in all capacities. \\n\\n Can that for true love pass\\n When a fair woman courts her glass?\\nSomething unlike must in love's likeness be:\\nHis wonder is one and variety.\\nFor he whose soul nought but a soul can move\\n Does a new Narcissus prove,\\n And his own image love. \\n\\n That souls do beauty know\\n 'Tis to the body's help they owe;\\nIf when they know't they straight abuse that trust \\nAnd shut the body from't, 'tis as unjust\\nAs if I brought my dearest friend to see\\n My mistress and at th' instant he \\n Should steal her quite from me."