TO ALTHEA FROM PRISON. BY RICHARD LOVELACE.
Reading edition
This lyric of Richard Lovelace’s is, with the “Lucasta,” the best known and most often quoted of his poems.
When Love with unconfined wings Hovers within my gates, And my divine Althea brings To whisper at my grates; When I lie tangled in her hair And fettered with her eye, The birds that wanton in the air Know no such liberty.
When flowing cups pass swiftly round With no allaying Thames, Our careless heads with roses crowned, Our hearts with loyal flames; When thirsty grief in wine we steep, When healths and draughts go free— Fishes that tipple in the deep Know no such liberty.
When linnet-like confined, With shriller throat shall sing Thy mercy, sweetness, majesty And glories of my king; When I shall voice aloud how good He is, how great should be, The enlarged winds that curl the flood Know no such liberty.
Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage; Minds innocent and quiet take That for a hermitage; If I have freedom in my love And in my soul am free, Angels alone, that soar above, Enjoy such liberty.