We never joy enjoy to that full point

We never joy enjoy to that full point

Regret doth wish joy had enjoyèd been,

Nor have the strength regret to disappoint

Recalling not past joy's thought, but its mien.

Yet joy was joy when it enjoyèd was

And after-enjoyed when as joy recalled,

It must have been joy ere its joy did pass

And, recalled, joy still, since its being-past galled.

Alas! All this is useless, for joy's in

Enjoying, not in thinking of enjoying.

Its mere thought-mirroring gainst itself doth sin,

By mere reflecting solid life destroying,

Yet the more thought we take to thought to prove

It must not think, doth further from joy move.

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