at my grates no Althea

     To Althea,
     From Prison.
     Song.

      I.
When Love with unconfined wings
     Hovers within my Gates;
And my divine Althea brings
     To whisper at the Grates:
When I lye tangeld in her haire,
     And fetterd to her eye;
The Gods that wanton in the Aire,
     Know no such Liberty

          II.
When flowing Cups runs swiftly round
     With no allaying Thames,
Our carelesse heads with Roses bound,
     Our hearts with Loyall Flames;
When thrifty griefe in Wine we steepe,
     When Healths and draughts go free,
Fishes that tipple in the Deepe,
     Know no such Libertie.

          III.
When (like committed Linnets) I
     With shriller throat shall sing
The sweetnes, Mercy Majesty,
     And glories of my KING;
When I shall voice aloud, how Good
     He is, how Great should be;
          Inlarged Winds that curle the Flood,
          Know no such Liberty.

          IV.
Stone Walls doe not a Prison make,
     Nor I'ron bars a Cage;
Mindes innocent and quiet take
     That for a Hermitage;
If I have freedome in my Love,
     And in my soule am free;
Angles alone tha sore above,
     Injoy such Liberty.

Richard Lovelace, British poet, (1618-67).

The Poems of Richard Lovelace, ed. C.H. Wilkinson, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1953, pg. 78-79.