| | A Nocturnal Upon St. Lucys Day |
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| | Tis the years midnight, and it is the days, |
| | Lucys, who scarce seven hours herself unmasks, |
| | The sun is spent, and now his flasks |
| | Send forth light squibs, no constant rays; |
5 | | The worlds whole sap is sunk; |
| | The general balm th hydroptic earth hath drunk, |
| | Whither, as to the beds feet, life is shrunk, |
| | Dead and interred; yet all these seem to laugh, |
| | Compared with me, who am their epitaph. |
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10 | | Study me then, you who shall lovers be |
| | At the next world, that is, at the next spring; |
| | For I am every dead thing, |
| | In whom love wrought new alchemy. |
| | For his art did express |
15 | | A quintessence even from nothingness, |
| | From dull privations, and lean emptiness; |
| | He ruined me, and I am re-begot |
| | Of absence, darkness, death; things which are not. |
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| | All others, from all things, draw all thats good, |
20 | | Life, soul, form, spirit, whence they being have; |
| | I, by Loves limbeck, am the grave |
| | Of all thats nothing. Oft a flood |
| | Have we two wept, and so |
| | Drowned the whole world, us two; oft did we grow |
25 | | To be two chaoses, when we did show |
| | Care to aught else; and often absences |
| | Withdrew our souls, and made us carcasses. |
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| | But I am by her death (which word wrongs her) |
| | Of the first nothing the elixir grown; |
30 | | Were I a man, that I were one, |
| | I needs must know; I should prefer, |
| | If I were any beast, |
| | Some ends, some means; yea plants, yea stones detest, |
| | And love; all, all some properties invest; |
35 | | If I an ordinary nothing were, |
| | As shadow, a light and body must be here. |
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| | But I am none; nor will my sun renew. |
| | You lovers, for whose sake the lesser sun |
| | At this time to the Goat is run |
40 | | To fetch new lust, and give it you, |
| | Enjoy your summer all; |
| | Since she enjoys her long nights festival, |
| | Let me prepare towards her, and let me call |
| | This hour her vigil, and her eve, since this |
45 | | Both the years, and the days deep midnight is. |
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