Andrew Marvell(1621–1678)
The Definition of Love
My Love is of a birth as rare
As 'tis, for object, strange and high;7
It w a s b e g o t t e n by D e s p a i r
U p o n Impossibility.
M a g n a n i m o u s D e s p a i r a l o n e
C o u l d s h o w me so divine a thing,
W h e r e f e e b l e H o p e c o u l d ne'er have f l o w n
But vainly flapped its tinsel8 wing.
A n d yet I quickly m i g h t arrive
Where my extended soul is fixed;9
B u t Fate d o e s iron w e d g e s drive,
A n d always crowds itself betwixt.
For Fate w i t h j e a l o u s eye d o e s s e e
T w o p e r f e c t loves, nor lets t h e m close;unite
Their union would her ruin be,
And her tyrannic power depose.1
And therefore her decrees of steel
Us as the distant poles have placed
(Though Love's whole world on us doth wheel),2
Not by themselves to be embraced,
Unless the giddy heaven fall,
And earth some new convulsion tear,
And, us to join, the world should all
Be cramped into a planisphere.3
As lines, so loves oblique may well
Themselves in every angle greet;4
But ours, so truly parallel,
Though infinite, can never meet.
Therefore the love which us doth bind,
But Fate so enviously debars,
Is the conjunction of the mind,
And opposition of the stars.5