My True-Love Hath My Heart
My true-love hath my heart, and I have his,
By just exchange one for another given:
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss, <
T’here never was a better bargain driven:
My true-love hath my heart, and I have his.
His heart in me keeps him and me in one,
My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides:
He loves my heart, for once it was his own,
I cherish his because in me it bides:
My true-love hath my heart, and I have his.
~Sir John Philip Sidney
To My Dear and Loving Husband
by Anne Bradstreet(1678)
If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were lov’d by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me ye women if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee, give recompence.
Thy love is such I can no way repay,
The heavens reward thee manifold I pray.
Then while we live, in love let’s so perservere,
That when we live no more, we may live ever.
