Katherine Philips, Heartfelt Words for a Friend

Thy leiger soul in me shall lie,

And all thy thoughts reveal ;

Then back again with mine shall fly,

And thence to me shall steal.

Thus still to one another tend ;

Such is the sacred Name of Friend.

Text : Philips, Katherine. Poems, “To Mrs. M.A. at a Parting” (1678), in Minor Poets of the Caroline Period, George Saintsbury, ed.Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905. 550-. 

Image : Katherine Philips by Faithorne. Frontispiece from Poems by Mrs Katherine Philips, The matchless Orinda (1667), British Library 83.l.3.