If love be holy, if that mystery br O co-united hearts be sacrament; br If the unbounded goodness have infused br A sacred ardour of a mutual love br Into our species; if those amorous joys, br Those sweets of life, those comforts even in death, br Spring from a cause above our reason's reach; br If that clear flame deduce its heat from heaven, br 'Tis, like its cause, eternal; always one, br As in th' instiller of divinest love, br Unchanged by time, immortal, maugre death. br But, oh! 'tis grown a figment; love, a jest: br A comic poesy: the soul of man is rotten, br Even to the core, no sound affection. br Our love is hollow, vaulted, stands on props br Of circumstance, profit, or ambitious passes.