| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910. | | | | The Magnet | | By Thomas Stanley (1625–1678) |
| | | ASK the empress of the night | |
| How the Hand which guides her sphere. | |
| Constant in unconstant light, | |
| Taught the waves her yoke to bear, | |
| And did thus by loving force | 5 |
| Curb or tame the rude sea’s course. | |
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| Ask the female palm how she | |
| First did woo her husband’s love; | |
| And the magnet, ask how he | |
| Doth th’ obsequious iron move; | 10 |
| Waters, plants, and stones know this: | |
| That they love: not what Love is. | |
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| Be not thou less kind than these, | |
| Or from Love exempt alone! | |
| Let us twine like amorous trees, | 15 |
| And like rivers melt in one. | |
| Or, if thou more cruel prove, | |
| Learn of steel and stones to love. | | | | |
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