by Abraham Cowley (1618 - 1667)
She loves and she confesses, too
Language: English
She loves and she confesses too, There's then at last no more to do; The happy work's entirely done, Enter the town which thou hast won; The fruits of conquest now begin, Lo, triumph, enter in. What's this, ye Gods? What can it be? Remains there still an enemy? Bold Honour stands up in the gate, And would yet capitulate. Have I o'ercome all real foes, And shall this phantom me oppose? Noisy nothing, stalking shade, By what witchcraft wert thou made, Thou empty cause of solid harms? But I shall find out counter charms, Thy airy devilship to remove From this circle here of love Sure I shall rid myself of thee By the night's obscurity, And obscurer secrecy; Unlike to ev'ry other spright Thou attempt'st not men to affright Nor appear'st but in the light.
Authorship:
- by Abraham Cowley (1618 - 1667), from The Mistress, first published 1656 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Henry Purcell (1658/9 - 1695), "She loves and she confesses, too", 1680, published 1683. [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 137