Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Francis T. Palgrave, ed. (1824–1897). The Golden Treasury. 1875.

Anonymous

IX. Present in Absence

ABSENCE, hear thou my protestation

Against thy strength,

Distance, and length;

Do what thou canst for alteration:

For hearts of truest mettle

Absence doth join, and Time doth settle.

Who loves a mistress of such quality,

He soon hath found

Affection’s ground

Beyond time, place, and all mortality.

To hearts that cannot vary

Absence is Presence, Time doth tarry.

By absence this good means I gain,

That I can catch her,

Where none can watch her,

In some close corner of my brain:

There I embrace and kiss her;

And so I both enjoy and miss her.