Absence heere thou my protestation,
Against thy strength,
Distaunce and length
Doe what you dare for alteration,
For hartes of truest metall,
Absence doth ioyne, and time dooth settle.
missing stanzas:
Who loves a Mistris of right quality,
His mind hath founde
Affections grounde
Beyond time, place, and all mortality:
To harts that cannot vary
Absence is present, time doth tary:
My Sences want their outward motion
Which now within
Reason doth win,
Redoubled by her secret notion:
Like rich men that take pleasure
In hidinge more then handling treasure.
By absence this good means I gaine
That I can catch her
Where none can watch her
In some close corner of my braine:
There I embrace and kiss her,
And so enjoye her, and so misse her.
words by:
John Hoskins, in: A Poeticall Rhapsody, 1602 [!]