What is there in the vale of life <br />Half so delighted as a wife, <br />When friendship, love, and peace combine <br />To stamp the marriage bond divine? <br />The stream of pure and genuine love <br />Derive its current from above; <br />And earth a second Eden shows, <br />Where'er the healing water flows; <br />But ah, if from the dikes and drains <br />Of sensual Nature's feverish veins, <br />Lust, like a lawless headstrong flood, <br />Impregnated with ooze and mud, <br />Descending fast on every side <br />Once mingles with the sacred tide, <br />Farewell the soul-enlivening scene! <br />The banks that wore a smiling green, <br />With rank defilement overspread, <br />Bewail their flowery beauties dead; <br />The stream polluted, dark, and dull, <br />Diffused into a Stygian pool, <br />Through life's last melancholy years <br />Is fed with overflowing tears, <br />Complaints supply the zephyr's part, <br />And sighs that heave a breaking heart.<br /><br />William Cowper<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/love-abused/
