Katherine Philips writes to her friend with an intensity usually reserved for lovers. She addresses her as “Soule of my soule,” a name that contains all others, and describes a union where two minds become one. The poem uses intimate metaphors of locked hearts and private cabinets to show how fully they trust each other—no thought is hidden, every secret is a shared jewel. Their connection is so deep that tears and sighs seem to flow from a single source. This merging creates a kind of emotional fortress: nothing in the “dull world” of ambition, envy, and fighting can touch them. The speaker’s tone is tender but fiercely proud. She and her friend are lifted above ordinary life; they pity kings and despise conquerors because they possess a “sacred union” that the rest of the world has lost. The mood is one of ecstatic safety—a passionate celebration of a friendship that feels like a shared soul.
6th April 1651 L'Amitie: To Mrs. M. Awbrey — Summary
Soule of my soule! my Joy, my crown, my friend! A name which all the rest doth comprehend; How happy are we now, whose sols are grown, By an incomparable mixture, One: Whose well acquainted minds are not as neare As Love, or vows, or secrets can endeare. I have no thought but what's to thee reveal'd, Nor thou desire that is from me conceal'd. Thy heart locks up my secrets richly set, And my breast is thy private cabinet. Thou shedst no teare but what but what my moisture lent, And if I sigh, it is thy breath is spent. United thus, what horrour can appeare Worthy our sorrow, anger, or our feare? Let the dull world alone to talk and fight And with their vast ambitions nature fright; Let them despise so innocent a flame, While Envy, pride, and faction play their game: But we by Love sublim'd so high shall rise, To pitty Kings, and Conquerours despise, Since we that sacred union have engrost, Which they and all the sullen world have lost.