[The Temple, Detail of Model]from The Temple (1633), by George Herbert:

 

¶   Love I. 1

IMmortall Love, authour of this great frame,
	   Sprung from that beautie which can never fade;
	   How hath man parcel’d out thy glorious name,
And thrown it on that dust which thou hast make,

While mortall love doth all the title gain!
	   Which siding with invention, they together
	   Bear all the sway, possessing heart and brain,
(Thy workmanship) and give thee share in neither.

Wit fancies beautie, beautie raiseth wit:
	   The world is theirs; they two play out the game,
	   Thou standing by: and though thy glorious name
Wrought our deliverance from th’ infernall pit,

	   Who sings thy praise? onely a skarf or glove
	   Doth warm our hands, and make them write of love.


II.

IMmortall Heat, O let thy greater flame
	   Attract the lesser to it: Let those fires,
	   Which shall consume the world, first make it tame;
And kindle in our hearts such true desires,

As may consume our lusts, and make thee way.
	   Then shall our hearts pant thee; then shall our brain
	   All her invention on thine Altar lay,
And there in hymnes send back thy fire again:

Our eies shall see thee, which before saw dust;
	   Dust blown by wit, till that they both were blinde:
	   Thou shalt recover all thy goods in kinde,
Who wert disseized by usurping lust:

	   All knees shall bow to thee; all wits shall rise,
	   And praise him who did make and mend our eies.


Rubens, ''Garden of Love'' Unlike 2 poems of the same name, these on "Love" are a pair of poems intentionally placed together.

Note on Sonnet form and organization.

1 When a number is in parenthesis, e.g. Love (III), the editor Hutchinson added it to distinguish the poem from the others of the same name; the 1633 edition does not use these numbers. This is not the case with "Love I" and "Love II." These are Herbert’s, Nicholas Ferrar’s or Herbert’s original editor’s titles from the 1633 edition. [Return]

Note on the note: One website used "(Love) II" because the word "Love" is not specifically used in the original edition but the "II" is.


Modern version of "Love II"
Destinations
1633 Poem Index George Herbert & The Temple Home Page