"As seals their pictures to the wax impart, / So let my picture stamp thy gentle heart"
— Parnell, Thomas (1679-1718)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
Dublin
Publisher
Printed for Benjamin Gunne
Date
1758
Metaphor
"As seals their pictures to the wax impart, / So let my picture stamp thy gentle heart"
Metaphor in Context
The Spouse rejoicing heard the kind salute,
And thus address'd him--all the rest were mute.
Beneath the law, our goodly parent tree,
I went my much belov'd in search of thee,
For thee, like one in pangs of travail strove,
Hence, none may wonder if I gain thy love.
As seals their pictures to the wax impart,
So let my picture stamp thy gentle heart,
As fix'd the Signets on our hands remain,
So fix me thine, and ne'er to part again;
For love is strong as Death, whene'er they strike,
Alike imperious, vainly check'd alike;
But dread to loose, love mix'd with jealous dread!
As soon the marble Tomb resign the dead.
Its fatal arrows fiery-pointed fall,
The fire intense, and thine the most of all;
To slack the points no chilling floods are found,
Nay shou'd afflictions roll like floods around,
Were wealth of nations offer'd, all wou'd prove
Too small a danger, or a price for love.
If then with love this world of worth agree,
With soft regard our little Sister see,
How far unapt as yet, like maids that own
No Breasts at all, or Breasts but hardly grown,
Her part of Proselyte is scarce a part,
Too much a Gentile at her erring heart,
Her day draws nearer, what have we to do,
Least she be ask'd, and prove unworthy too?
And thus address'd him--all the rest were mute.
Beneath the law, our goodly parent tree,
I went my much belov'd in search of thee,
For thee, like one in pangs of travail strove,
Hence, none may wonder if I gain thy love.
As seals their pictures to the wax impart,
So let my picture stamp thy gentle heart,
As fix'd the Signets on our hands remain,
So fix me thine, and ne'er to part again;
For love is strong as Death, whene'er they strike,
Alike imperious, vainly check'd alike;
But dread to loose, love mix'd with jealous dread!
As soon the marble Tomb resign the dead.
Its fatal arrows fiery-pointed fall,
The fire intense, and thine the most of all;
To slack the points no chilling floods are found,
Nay shou'd afflictions roll like floods around,
Were wealth of nations offer'd, all wou'd prove
Too small a danger, or a price for love.
If then with love this world of worth agree,
With soft regard our little Sister see,
How far unapt as yet, like maids that own
No Breasts at all, or Breasts but hardly grown,
Her part of Proselyte is scarce a part,
Too much a Gentile at her erring heart,
Her day draws nearer, what have we to do,
Least she be ask'd, and prove unworthy too?
Categories
Provenance
Searching "heart" and "wax" in HDIS (Poetry); found again searching "signet" and "heart"
Citation
6 entries in ESTC (1758, 1786, 1796, 1797).
The Posthumous Works of Dr. Thomas Parnell, Late Arch-Deacon of Clogher; Containing Poems Moral and Divine: and on Various Other Subjects. (Dublin : Printed for Benjamin Gunne, Bookseller in Caple-Street, 1758).
The Posthumous Works of Dr. Thomas Parnell, Late Arch-Deacon of Clogher; Containing Poems Moral and Divine: and on Various Other Subjects. (Dublin : Printed for Benjamin Gunne, Bookseller in Caple-Street, 1758).
Date of Entry
03/27/2005
