Jordan (2)

When first my lines of heavenly joys made mention, 

Such was their lustre, they did so excel, 

That I sought out quaint words and trim invention; 

My thoughts began to burnish, sprout, and swell, 

Curling with metaphors a plain intention, 

Decking the sense, as if it were to sell. 

.

Thousands of notions in my brain did run, 

Off’ring their service, if I were not sped: 

I often blotted what I had begun; -  

This was not quick enough, and that was dead. 

Nothing could seem too rich to clothe the sun, 

Much less those joys which trample on his head. 

.

As flames do work and wind when they ascend, 

So did I weave myself into the sense. 

But while I bustled, I might hear a friend 

Whisper, “How wide is all this long pretence! 

There is in love a sweetness ready penned: 

Copy out only that, and save expense.

.

by George Herbert