My head, my heart, mine eyes, my life, nay more,
My joy, my magazine, of earthly store,
If two be one, as surely thou and I,
How stayest thou there, whilst I at Ipswich lie?
So many steps, head from the heart to sever,
If but a neck, soon should we be together.
I, like the Earth this season, mourn in black,
Bradstreet asks of her absent husband “how can you stay there, away” while she remains home in Ipswich. 
 Founded in 1630, Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts located north of Boston.  Ipswich was a town of farmers, fishermen, shipbuilders, and traders that in the latter half of the seventeenth century became known for lace-making. A 1687 tax protest by Ipswich residents led to the ouster of royal governor Sir Edmund Andros and the end of plans to unite the English North American colonies under one administration.
A Letter to Her Husband Absent upon Public Employment