[ { "title": "LOSS FROM THE LEAST", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Great men by small means oft are overthrown;", "He's lord of thy life, who contemns his own." ], "linecount": "2" }, { "title": "A Christmas Carol, Sung to the King in the Presence at White-Hall", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Chorus.", "", "What sweeter music can we bring,", "Than a Carol, for to sing", "The Birth of this our heavenly King?", "Awake the Voice! Awake the String!", "Heart, Ear, and Eye, and every thing", "Awake! the while the active Finger", "Runs division with the Singer.", "", "From the Flourish they came to the Song.", "", "Voice 1:", "Dark and dull night, fly hence away,", "And give the honor to this Day,", "That sees December turn'd to May.", "", "Voice 2:", "If we may ask the reason, say:", "The why, and wherefore all things here", "Seem like the Spring-time fo the year?", "", "Voice 3:", "Why does the chilling Winter's morn", "Smile, like a field beset with corn?", "Or smell, like to a mead new-shorn,", "Thus, on the sudden?", "", "Voice 4:", "Come and see", "The cause, why things thus fragrant be:", "'Tis He is born, whose quick'ning Birth", "Gives life and luster, public mirth,", "To Heaven and the under-Earth.", "", "Chorus:", "We see Him come, and know Him ours,", "Who, with His Sun-shine, and His Showers,", "Turns all the patient ground to flowers.", "", "Voice 1:", "The Darling of the World is come,", "And fit it is, we find a room", "To welcome Him.", "", "Voice 2:", "The nobler part", "Of all the house here, is the Heart,", "", "Chorus:", "Which we will give Him; and bequeath", "This Holly and this Ivy Wreath,", "To do Him honor; who's our King,", "And Lord of all this Revelling." ], "linecount": "44" }, { "title": "WHY FLOWERS CHANGE COLOUR", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "These fresh beauties, we can prove,", "Once were virgins, sick of love,", "Turn'd to flowers: still in some,", "Colours go and colours come." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "TO PRIMROSES FILLED WITH MORNING DEW", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Why do ye weep, sweet babes? can tears", "Speak grief in you,", "Who were but born", "just as the modest morn", "Teem'd her refreshing dew?", "Alas, you have not known that shower", "That mars a flower,", "Nor felt th' unkind", "Breath of a blasting wind,", "Nor are ye worn with years;", "Or warp'd as we,", "Who think it strange to see,", "Such pretty flowers, like to orphans young,", "To speak by tears, before ye have a tongue.", "", "Speak, whimp'ring younglings, and make known", "The reason why", "Ye droop and weep;", "Is it for want of sleep,", "Or childish lullaby?", "Or that ye have not seen as yet", "The violet?", "Or brought a kiss", "From that Sweet-heart, to this?", "--No, no, this sorrow shown", "By your tears shed,", "Would have this lecture read,", "That things of greatest, so of meanest worth,", "Conceived with grief are, and with tears brought forth." ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "Another Grace For A Child", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Here a little child I stand", "Heaving up my either hand;", "Cold as paddocks though they be,", "Here I lift them up to Thee,", "For a benison to fall", "On our meat, and on us all. Amen." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "COMFORT TO A YOUTH THAT HAD LOST HIS LOVE", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "What needs complaints,", "When she a place", "Has with the race", "Of saints?", "In endless mirth,", "She thinks not on", "What's said or done", "In earth:", "She sees no tears,", "Or any tone", "Of thy deep groan", "She hears;", "Nor does she mind,", "Or think on't now,", "That ever thou", "Wast kind:--", "But changed above,", "She likes not there,", "As she did here,", "Thy love.", "--Forbear, therefore,", "And lull asleep", "Thy woes, and weep", "No more." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "HOW SPRINGS CAME FIRST", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "These springs were maidens once that loved,", "But lost to that they most approved:", "My story tells, by Love they were", "Turn'd to these springs which we see here:", "The pretty whimpering that they make,", "When of the banks their leave they take,", "Tells ye but this, they are the same,", "In nothing changed but in their name." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "SOFT MUSIC", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "The mellow touch of music most doth wound", "The soul, when it doth rather sigh, than sound." ], "linecount": "2" }, { "title": "FAREWELL FROST, OR WELCOME SPRING", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Fled are the frosts, and now the fields appear", "Reclothed in fresh and verdant diaper;", "Thaw'd are the snows; and now the lusty Spring", "Gives to each mead a neat enamelling;", "The palms put forth their gems, and every tree", "Now swaggers in her leafy gallantry.", "The while the Daulian minstrel sweetly sings", "With warbling notes her Terean sufferings.", "--What gentle winds perspire! as if here", "Never had been the northern plunderer", "To strip the trees and fields, to their distress,", "Leaving them to a pitied nakedness.", "And look how when a frantic storm doth tear", "A stubborn oak or holm, long growing there,--", "But lull'd to calmness, then succeeds a breeze", "That scarcely stirs the nodding leaves of trees;", "So when this war, which tempest-like doth spoil", "Our salt, our corn, our honey, wine, and oil,", "Falls to a temper, and doth mildly cast", "His inconsiderate frenzy off, at last,", "The gentle dove may, when these turmoils cease,", "Bring in her bill, once more, the branch of Peace." ], "linecount": "22" }, { "title": "TO THE WATER-NYMPHS DRINKING AT THEFOUNTAIN", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Reach with your whiter hands to me", "Some crystal of the spring;", "And I about the cup shall see", "Fresh lilies flourishing.", "", "Or else, sweet nymphs, do you but this--", "To th' glass your lips incline;", "And I shall see by that one kiss", "The water turn'd to wine." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "GRACE FOR A CHILD", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Here, a little child, I stand,", "Heaving up my either hand:", "Cold as paddocks though they be,", "Here I lift them up to thee,", "For a benison to fall", "On our meat, and on us all.", "Amen." ], "linecount": "7" }, { "title": "TO MUSIC: A SONG", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Music, thou queen of heaven, care-charming spell,", "That strik'st a stillness into hell;", "Thou that tam'st tigers, and fierce storms, that rise,", "With thy soul-melting lullabies;", "Fall down, down, down, from those thy chiming spheres", "To charm our souls, as thou enchant'st our ears." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "THE CEREMONIES FOR CANDLEMAS DAY", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Kindle the Christmas brand, and then", "Till sunset let it burn;", "Which quench'd, then lay it up again,", "Till Christmas next return.", "", "Part must be kept, wherewith to teend", "The Christmas log next year;", "And where 'tis safely kept, the fiend", "Can do no mischief there." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "UPON ROSES", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Under a lawn, than skies more clear,", "Some ruffled Roses nestling were,", "And snugging there, they seem'd to lie", "As in a flowery nunnery;", "They blush'd, and look'd more fresh than flowers", "Quickened of late by pearly showers;", "And all, because they were possest", "But of the heat of Julia's breast,", "Which, as a warm and moisten'd spring,", "Gave them their ever-flourishing." ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "MRS ELIZ: WHEELER, UNDER THE NAME OF THELOST SHEPHERDESS", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Among the myrtles as I walk'd", "Love and my sighs thus intertalk'd:", "Tell me, said I, in deep distress,", "Where I may find my Shepherdess?", "--Thou fool, said Love, know'st thou not this?", "In every thing that's sweet she is.", "In yond' carnation go and seek,", "There thou shalt find her lip and cheek;", "In that enamell'd pansy by,", "There thou shalt have her curious eye;", "In bloom of peach and rose's bud,", "There waves the streamer of her blood.", "--'Tis true, said I; and thereupon", "I went to pluck them one by one,", "To make of parts an union;", "But on a sudden all were gone.", "At which I stopp'd; Said Love, these be", "The true resemblances of thee;", "For as these flowers, thy joys must die;", "And in the turning of an eye;", "And all thy hopes of her must wither,", "Like those short sweets here knit together." ], "linecount": "22" }, { "title": "THE OLD WIVES' PRAYER", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Holy-Rood, come forth and shield", "Us i' th' city and the field;", "Safely guard us, now and aye,", "From the blast that burns by day;", "And those sounds that us affright", "In the dead of dampish night;", "Drive all hurtful fiends us fro,", "By the time the cocks first crow." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "TO HEAVEN", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Open thy gates", "To him who weeping waits,", "And might come in,", "But that held back by sin.", "Let mercy be", "So kind, to set me free,", "And I will straight", "Come in, or force the gate." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "THE SUCCESSION OF THE FOUR SWEET MONTHS", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "First, April, she with mellow showers", "Opens the way for early flowers;", "Then after her comes smiling May,", "In a more rich and sweet array;", "Next enters June, and brings us more", "Gems than those two that went before;", "Then, lastly, July comes, and she", "More wealth brings in than all those three." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "TO THE WILLOW-TREE", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Thou art to all lost love the best,", "The only true plant found,", "Wherewith young men and maids distrest", "And left of love, are crown'd.", "", "When once the lover's rose is dead", "Or laid aside forlorn,", "Then willow-garlands, 'bout the head,", "Bedew'd with tears, are worn.", "", "When with neglect, the lover's bane,", "Poor maids rewarded be,", "For their love lost their only gain", "Is but a wreath from thee.", "", "And underneath thy cooling shade,", "When weary of the light,", "The love-spent youth, and love-sick maid,", "Come to weep out the night." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "UPON MRS ELIZ. WHEELER, UNDER THE NAME OFAMARILLIS", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Sweet Amarillis, by a spring's", "Soft and soul-melting murmurings,", "Slept; and thus sleeping, thither flew", "A Robin-red-breast; who at view,", "Not seeing her at all to stir,", "Brought leaves and moss to cover her:", "But while he, perking, there did pry", "About the arch of either eye,", "The lid began to let out day,--", "At which poor Robin flew away;", "And seeing her not dead, but all disleaved,", "He chirpt for joy, to see himself deceived." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "THE PRIMROSE", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Ask me why I send you here", "This sweet Infanta of the year?", "Ask me why I send to you", "This Primrose, thus bepearl'd with dew?", "I will whisper to your ears,--", "The sweets of love are mixt with tears.", "", "Ask me why this flower does show", "So yellow-green, and sickly too?", "Ask me why the stalk is weak", "And bending, yet it doth not break?", "I will answer,--these discover", "What fainting hopes are in a lover." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "TO MUSIC, TO BECALM HIS FEVER", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Charm me asleep, and melt me so", "With thy delicious numbers;", "That being ravish'd, hence I go", "Away in easy slumbers.", "Ease my sick head,", "And make my bed,", "Thou Power that canst sever", "From me this ill;--", "And quickly still,", "Though thou not kill", "My fever.", "", "Thou sweetly canst convert the same", "From a consuming fire,", "Into a gentle-licking flame,", "And make it thus expire.", "Then make me weep", "My pains asleep,", "And give me such reposes,", "That I, poor I,", "May think, thereby,", "I live and die", "'Mongst roses.", "", "Fall on me like a silent dew,", "Or like those maiden showers,", "Which, by the peep of day, do strew", "A baptism o'er the flowers.", "Melt, melt my pains", "With thy soft strains;", "That having ease me given,", "With full delight,", "I leave this light,", "And take my flight", "For Heaven." ], "linecount": "33" }, { "title": "THE COUNTRY LIFE:", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "TO THE HONOURED MR ENDYMION PORTER, GROOM OF", "THE BED-CHAMBER TO HIS MAJESTY", "", "Sweet country life, to such unknown,", "Whose lives are others', not their own!", "But serving courts and cities, be", "Less happy, less enjoying thee.", "Thou never plough'st the ocean's foam", "To seek and bring rough pepper home:", "Nor to the Eastern Ind dost rove", "To bring from thence the scorched clove:", "Nor, with the loss of thy loved rest,", "Bring'st home the ingot from the West.", "No, thy ambition's master-piece", "Flies no thought higher than a fleece:", "Or how to pay thy hinds, and clear", "All scores: and so to end the year:", "But walk'st about thine own dear bounds,", "Not envying others' larger grounds:", "For well thou know'st, 'tis not th' extent", "Of land makes life, but sweet content.", "When now the cock (the ploughman's horn)", "Calls forth the lily-wristed morn;", "Then to thy corn-fields thou dost go,", "Which though well soil'd, yet thou dost know", "That the best compost for the lands", "Is the wise master's feet, and hands.", "There at the plough thou find'st thy team,", "With a hind whistling there to them:", "And cheer'st them up, by singing how", "The kingdom's portion is the plough.", "This done, then to th' enamell'd meads", "Thou go'st; and as thy foot there treads,", "Thou seest a present God-like power", "Imprinted in each herb and flower:", "And smell'st the breath of great-eyed kine,", "Sweet as the blossoms of the vine.", "Here thou behold'st thy large sleek neat", "Unto the dew-laps up in meat:", "And, as thou look'st, the wanton steer,", "The heifer, cow, and ox draw near,", "To make a pleasing pastime there.", "These seen, thou go'st to view thy flocks", "Of sheep, safe from the wolf and fox,", "And find'st their bellies there as full", "Of short sweet grass, as backs with wool:", "And leav'st them, as they feed and fill,", "A shepherd piping on a hill.", "", "For sports, for pageantry, and plays,", "Thou hast thy eves, and holydays:", "On which the young men and maids meet,", "To exercise their dancing feet:", "Tripping the comely country Round,", "With daffadils and daisies crown'd.", "Thy wakes, thy quintels, here thou hast,", "Thy May-poles too with garlands graced;", "Thy Morris-dance; thy Whitsun-ale;", "Thy shearing-feast, which never fail.", "Thy harvest home; thy wassail bowl,", "That's toss'd up after Fox i' th' hole:", "Thy mummeries; thy Twelve-tide kings", "And queens; thy Christmas revellings:", "Thy nut-brown mirth, thy russet wit,", "And no man pays too dear for it.--", "To these, thou hast thy times to go", "And trace the hare i' th' treacherous snow:", "Thy witty wiles to draw, and get", "The lark into the trammel net:", "Thou hast thy cockrood, and thy glade", "To take the precious pheasant made:", "Thy lime-twigs, snares, and pit-falls then", "To catch the pilfering birds, not men.", "", "--O happy life! if that their good", "The husbandmen but understood!", "Who all the day themselves do please,", "And younglings, with such sports as these:", "And lying down, have nought t' affright", "Sweet Sleep, that makes more short the night.", "CAETERA DESUNT--" ], "linecount": "78" }, { "title": "UPON HIS SISTER-IN-LAW, MISTRESS ELIZABETHHERRICK", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "First, for effusions due unto the dead,", "My solemn vows have here accomplished;", "Next, how I love thee, that my grief must tell,", "Wherein thou liv'st for ever.--Dear, farewell!" ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "A COUNTRY LIFE:TO HIS BROTHER, MR THOMAS HERRICK", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Thrice, and above, blest, my soul's half, art thou,", "In thy both last and better vow;", "Could'st leave the city, for exchange, to see", "The country's sweet simplicity;", "And it to know and practise, with intent", "To grow the sooner innocent;", "By studying to know virtue, and to aim", "More at her nature than her name;", "The last is but the least; the first doth tell", "Ways less to live, than to live well:--", "And both are known to thee, who now canst live", "Led by thy conscience, to give", "Justice to soon-pleased nature, and to show", "Wisdom and she together go,", "And keep one centre; This with that conspires", "To teach man to confine desires,", "And know that riches have their proper stint", "In the contented mind, not mint;", "And canst instruct that those who have the itch", "Of craving more, are never rich.", "These things thou knows't to th' height, and dost prevent", "That plague, because thou art content", "With that Heaven gave thee with a wary hand,", "(More blessed in thy brass than land)", "To keep cheap Nature even and upright;", "To cool, not cocker appetite.", "Thus thou canst tersely live to satisfy", "The belly chiefly, not the eye;", "Keeping the barking stomach wisely quiet,", "Less with a neat than needful diet.", "But that which most makes sweet thy country life,", "Is the fruition of a wife,", "Whom, stars consenting with thy fate, thou hast", "Got not so beautiful as chaste;", "By whose warm side thou dost securely sleep,", "While Love the sentinel doth keep,", "With those deeds done by day, which ne'er affright", "Thy silken slumbers in the night:", "Nor has the darkness power to usher in", "Fear to those sheets that know no sin.", "The damask'd meadows and the pebbly streams", "Sweeten and make soft your dreams:", "The purling springs, groves, birds, and well weaved bowers,", "With fields enamelled with flowers,", "Present their shapes, while fantasy discloses", "Millions of Lilies mix'd with Roses.", "Then dream, ye hear the lamb by many a bleat", "Woo'd to come suck the milky teat;", "While Faunus in the vision comes, to keep", "From rav'ning wolves the fleecy sheep:", "With thousand such enchanting dreams, that meet", "To make sleep not so sound as sweet;", "Nor call these figures so thy rest endear,", "As not to rise when Chanticlere", "Warns the last watch;--but with the dawn dost rise", "To work, but first to sacrifice;", "Making thy peace with Heaven for some late fault,", "With holy-meal and spirting salt;", "Which done, thy painful thumb this sentence tells us,", "'Jove for our labour all things sells us.'", "Nor are thy daily and devout affairs", "Attended with those desp'rate cares", "Th' industrious merchant has, who for to find", "Gold, runneth to the Western Ind,", "And back again, tortured with fears, doth fly,", "Untaught to suffer Poverty;--", "But thou at home, blest with securest ease,", "Sitt'st, and believ'st that there be seas,", "And watery dangers; while thy whiter hap", "But sees these things within thy map;", "And viewing them with a more safe survey,", "Mak'st easy fear unto thee say,", "'A heart thrice walled with oak and brass, that man", "Had, first durst plough the ocean.'", "But thou at home, without or tide or gale,", "Canst in thy map securely sail;", "Seeing those painted countries, and so guess", "By those fine shades, their substances;", "And from thy compass taking small advice,", "Buy'st travel at the lowest price.", "Nor are thine ears so deaf but thou canst hear,", "Far more with wonder than with fear,", "Fame tell of states, of countries, courts, and kings,", "And believe there be such things;", "When of these truths thy happier knowledge lies", "More in thine ears than in thine eyes.", "And when thou hear'st by that too true report,", "Vice rules the most, or all, at court,", "Thy pious wishes are, though thou not there,", "Virtue had, and moved her sphere.", "But thou liv'st fearless; and thy face ne'er shows", "Fortune when she comes, or goes;", "But with thy equal thoughts, prepared dost stand", "To take her by the either hand;", "Nor car'st which comes the first, the foul or fair:--", "A wise man ev'ry way lies square;", "And like a surly oak with storms perplex'd", "Grows still the stronger, strongly vex'd.", "Be so, bold Spirit; stand centre-like, unmoved;", "And be not only thought, but proved", "To be what I report thee, and inure", "Thyself, if want comes, to endure;", "And so thou dost; for thy desires are", "Confined to live with private Lar:", "Nor curious whether appetite be fed", "Or with the first, or second bread.", "Who keep'st no proud mouth for delicious cates;", "Hunger makes coarse meats, delicates.", "Canst, and unurged, forsake that larded fare,", "Which art, not nature, makes so rare;", "To taste boil'd nettles, coleworts, beets, and eat", "These, and sour herbs, as dainty meat:--", "While soft opinion makes thy Genius say,", "'Content makes all ambrosia;'", "Nor is it that thou keep'st this stricter size", "So much for want, as exercise;", "To numb the sense of dearth, which, should sin haste it,", "Thou might'st but only see't, not taste it;", "Yet can thy humble roof maintain a quire", "Of singing crickets by thy fire;", "And the brisk mouse may feast herself with crumbs,", "Till that the green-eyed kitling comes;", "Then to her cabin, blest she can escape", "The sudden danger of a rape.", "--And thus thy little well-kept stock doth prove,", "Wealth cannot make a life, but love.", "Nor art thou so close-handed, but canst spend,", "(Counsel concurring with the end),", "As well as spare; still conning o'er this theme,", "To shun the first and last extreme;", "Ordaining that thy small stock find no breach,", "Or to exceed thy tether's reach;", "But to live round, and close, and wisely true", "To thine own self, and known to few.", "Thus let thy rural sanctuary be", "Elysium to thy wife and thee;", "There to disport your selves with golden measure;", "For seldom use commends the pleasure.", "Live, and live blest; thrice happy pair; let breath,", "But lost to one, be th' other's death:", "And as there is one love, one faith, one troth,", "Be so one death, one grave to both;", "Till when, in such assurance live, ye may", "Nor fear, or wish your dying day." ], "linecount": "144" }, { "title": "TO MUSIC", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Begin to charm, and as thou strok'st mine ears", "With thine enchantment, melt me into tears.", "Then let thy active hand scud o'er thy lyre,", "And make my spirits frantic with the fire;", "That done, sink down into a silvery strain,", "And make me smooth as balm and oil again." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "HIS AGE:DEDICATED TO HIS PECULIAR FRIEND,MR JOHN WICKES, UNDER THE NAME OFPOSTUMUS", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Ah, Posthumus! our years hence fly", "And leave no sound: nor piety,", "Or prayers, or vow", "Can keep the wrinkle from the brow;", "But we must on,", "As fate does lead or draw us; none,", "None, Posthumus, could e'er decline", "The doom of cruel Proserpine.", "", "The pleasing wife, the house, the ground", "Must all be left, no one plant found", "To follow thee,", "Save only the curst cypress-tree!", "--A merry mind", "Looks forward, scorns what's left behind;", "Let's live, my Wickes, then, while we may,", "And here enjoy our holiday.", "", "We've seen the past best times, and these", "Will ne'er return; we see the seas,", "And moons to wane,", "But they fill up their ebbs again;", "But vanish'd man,", "Like to a lily lost, ne'er can,", "Ne'er can repullulate, or bring", "His days to see a second spring.", "", "But on we must, and thither tend,", "Where Ancus and rich Tullus blend", "Their sacred seed;", "Thus has infernal Jove decreed;", "We must be made,", "Ere long a song, ere long a shade.", "Why then, since life to us is short,", "Let's make it full up by our sport.", "", "Crown we our heads with roses then,", "And 'noint with Tyrian balm; for when", "We two are dead,", "The world with us is buried.", "Then live we free", "As is the air, and let us be", "Our own fair wind, and mark each one", "Day with the white and lucky stone.", "", "We are not poor, although we have", "No roofs of cedar, nor our brave", "Baiae, nor keep", "Account of such a flock of sheep;", "Nor bullocks fed", "To lard the shambles; barbels bred", "To kiss our hands; nor do we wish", "For Pollio's lampreys in our dish.", "", "If we can meet, and so confer,", "Both by a shining salt-cellar,", "And have our roof,", "Although not arch'd, yet weather-proof,", "And cieling free,", "From that cheap candle-baudery;", "We'll eat our bean with that full mirth", "As we were lords of all the earth.", "", "Well, then, on what seas we are tost,", "Our comfort is, we can't be lost.", "Let the winds drive", "Our bark, yet she will keep alive", "Amidst the deeps;", "'Tis constancy, my Wickes, which keeps", "The pinnace up; which, though she errs", "I' th' seas, she saves her passengers.", "", "Say, we must part; sweet mercy bless", "Us both i' th' sea, camp, wilderness!", "Can we so far", "Stray, to become less circular", "Than we are now?", "No, no, that self-same heart, that vow", "Which made us one, shall ne'er undo,", "Or ravel so, to make us two.", "", "Live in thy peace; as for myself,", "When I am bruised on the shelf", "Of time, and show", "My locks behung with frost and snow;", "When with the rheum,", "The cough, the pthisic, I consume", "Unto an almost nothing; then,", "The ages fled, I'll call again,", "", "And with a tear compare these last", "Lame and bad times with those are past,", "While Baucis by,", "My old lean wife, shall kiss it dry;", "And so we'll sit", "By th' fire, foretelling snow and slit", "And weather by our aches, grown", "Now old enough to be our own", "", "True calendars, as puss's ear", "Wash'd o'er 's, to tell what change is near;", "Then to assuage", "The gripings of the chine by age,", "I'll call my young", "Iulus to sing such a song", "I made upon my Julia's breast,", "And of her blush at such a feast.", "", "Then shall he read that flower of mine", "Enclosed within a crystal shrine;", "A primrose next;", "A piece then of a higher text;", "For to beget", "In me a more transcendant heat,", "Than that insinuating fire", "Which crept into each aged sire", "", "When the fair Helen from her eyes", "Shot forth her loving sorceries;", "At which I'll rear", "Mine aged limbs above my chair;", "And hearing it,", "Flutter and crow, as in a fit", "Of fresh concupiscence, and cry,", "'No lust there's like to Poetry.'", "", "Thus frantic, crazy man, God wot,", "I'll call to mind things half-forgot;", "And oft between", "Repeat the times that I have seen;", "Thus ripe with tears,", "And twisting my Iulus' hairs,", "Doting, I'll weep and say, 'In truth,", "Baucis, these were my sins of youth.'", "", "Then next I'Il cause my hopeful lad,", "If a wild apple can be had,", "To crown the hearth;", "Lar thus conspiring with our mirth;", "Then to infuse", "Our browner ale into the cruse;", "Which, sweetly spiced, we'll first carouse", "Unto the Genius of the house.", "", "Then the next health to friends of mine.", "Loving the brave Burgundian wine,", "High sons of pith,", "Whose fortunes I have frolick'd with;", "Such as could well", "Bear up the magic bough and spell;", "And dancing 'bout the mystic Thyrse,", "Give up the just applause to verse;", "", "To those, and then again to thee,", "We'll drink, my Wickes, until we be", "Plump as the cherry,", "Though not so fresh, yet full as merry", "As the cricket,", "The untamed heifer, or the pricket,", "Until our tongues shall tell our ears,", "We're younger by a score of years.", "", "Thus, till we see the fire less shine", "From th' embers than the kitling's eyne,", "We'll still sit up,", "Sphering about the wassail cup,", "To all those times", "Which gave me honour for my rhymes;", "The coal once spent, we'll then to bed,", "Far more than night bewearied." ], "linecount": "152" }, { "title": "A Child's Grace", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "HERE a little child I stand", "Heaving up my either hand;", "Cold as paddocks though they be,", "Here I lift them up to Thee,", "For a benison to fall", "On our meat and on us all. Amen." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "MATINS, OR MORNING PRAYER", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "When with the virgin morning thou dost rise,", "Crossing thyself come thus to sacrifice;", "First wash thy heart in innocence; then bring", "Pure hands, pure habits, pure, pure every thing.", "Next to the altar humbly kneel, and thence", "Give up thy soul in clouds of frankincense.", "Thy golden censers fill'd with odours sweet", "Shall make thy actions with their ends to meet." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "TO MUSIC, TO BECALM A SWEET SICK YOUTH", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Charms, that call down the moon from out her sphere,", "On this sick youth work your enchantments here!", "Bind up his senses with your numbers, so", "As to entrance his pain, or cure his woe.", "Fall gently, gently, and a-while him keep", "Lost in the civil wilderness of sleep:", "That done, then let him, dispossess'd of pain,", "Like to a slumbering bride, awake again." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "THE APRON OF FLOWERS", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "To gather flowers, Sappha went,", "And homeward she did bring", "Within her lawny continent,", "The treasure of the Spring.", "", "She smiling blush'd, and blushing smiled,", "And sweetly blushing thus,", "She look'd as she'd been got with child", "By young Favonius.", "", "Her apron gave, as she did pass,", "An odour more divine,", "More pleasing too, than ever was", "The lap of Proserpine." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "THE DEFINITION OF BEAUTY", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Beauty no other thing is, than a beam", "Flash'd out between the middle and extreme." ], "linecount": "2" }, { "title": "A DIALOGUE BETWIXT HIMSELF AND MISTRESS ELIZAWHEELER, UNDER THE NAME OF AMARILLIS", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "My dearest Love, since thou wilt go,", "And leave me here behind thee;", "For love or pity, let me know", "The place where I may find thee.", "", "AMARIL. In country meadows, pearl'd with dew,", "And set about with lilies;", "There, filling maunds with cowslips, you", "May find your Amarillis.", "", "HER. What have the meads to do with thee,", "Or with thy youthful hours?", "Live thou at court, where thou mayst be", "The queen of men, not flowers.", "", "Let country wenches make 'em fine", "With posies, since 'tis fitter", "For thee with richest gems to shine,", "And like the stars to glitter.", "", "AMARIL. You set too-high a rate upon", "A shepherdess so homely.", "HER. Believe it, dearest, there's not one", "I' th' court that's half so comely.", "", "I prithee stay. AMARIL. I must away;", "Let's kiss first, then we'll sever;", "AMBO And though we bid adieu to day,", "We shall not part for ever." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "PEACE NOT PERMANENT", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Great cities seldom rest; if there be none", "T' invade from far, they'll find worse foes at home." ], "linecount": "2" }, { "title": "The Hock-cart, or Harvest Home", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "To the Right Honourable Mildmay, Earl of Westmoreland", "", "Come, sons of summer, by whose toil", "We are the lords of wine and oil;", "By whose tough labours, and rough hands,", "We rip up first, then reap our lands.", "Crown'd with the ears of corn, now come,", "And to the pipe sing Harvest Home.", "Come forth, my lord, and see the cart", "Dress'd up with all the country art.", "See, here a malkin, there a sheet,", "As spotless pure, as it is sweet;", "The horses, mares, and frisking fillies,", "(Clad, all, in linen, white as lilies.)", "The harvest swains and wenches bound", "For joy, to see the Hock-cart crown'd.", "About the cart, hear, how the rout", "Of rural younglings raise the shout;", "Pressing before, some coming after,", "Those with a shout, and these with laughter.", "Some bless the cart; some kisses the sheaves;", "Some prank them up with oaken leaves;", "Some cross the fill-horse; some with great", "Devotion, stroke the home-borne wheat;", "While other rustics, less attent", "To prayers than to merriment,", "Run after with their breeches rent.", "Well, on, brave boys, to your lord's hearth,", "Glitt'ring with fire, where, for your mirth,", "Ye shall see first the large and chief", "Foundation of your feast, fat beef,", "With upper stories, mutton, veal,", "And bacon, (which makes full the meal)", "With sev'ral dishes standing by,", "As here a custard, there a pie,", "And here all tempting frumenty.", "And for to make the merry cheer,", "If smirking wine be wanting here,", "There's that which drowns all care, stout beer,", "Which freely drink to your lord's health,", "Then to the plough, (the common-wealth)", "Next to your flails, your fanes, your fats;", "Then to the maids with wheaten hats;", "To the rough sickle and crook'd scythe,", "Drink frolic boys, till all be blythe.", "Feed and grow fat; and as ye eat,", "Be mindful, that the lab'ring neat", "(As you) may have their fill of meat", "And know, besides, ye must revoke", "The patient ox unto the yoke,", "And all go back unto the plough", "And harrow, (though they're hang'd up now.)", "And, you must know, your lord's word's true,", "Feed him ye must, whose food fills you.", "And that this pleasure is like rain,", "Not sent ye for to drown your pain,", "But for to make it spring again." ], "linecount": "56" }, { "title": "UPON THE LOSS OF HIS MISTRESSES", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "I have lost, and lately, these", "Many dainty mistresses:--", "Stately Julia, prime of all;", "Sapho next, a principal:", "Smooth Anthea, for a skin", "White, and heaven-like crystalline:", "Sweet Electra, and the choice", "Myrha, for the lute and voice.", "Next, Corinna, for her wit,", "And the graceful use of it;", "With Perilla:--All are gone;", "Only Herrick's left alone,", "For to number sorrow by", "Their departures hence, and die." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "UPON A PAINTED GENTLEWOMAN", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Men say you're fair; and fair ye are, 'tis true;", "But, hark! we praise the painter now, not you." ], "linecount": "2" }, { "title": "ART ABOVE NATURE: TO JULIA", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "When I behold a forest spread", "With silken trees upon thy head;", "And when I see that other dress", "Of flowers set in comeliness;", "When I behold another grace", "In the ascent of curious lace,", "Which, like a pinnacle, doth shew", "The top, and the top-gallant too;", "Then, when I see thy tresses bound", "Into an oval, square, or round,", "And knit in knots far more than I.", "Can tell by tongue, or True-love tie;", "Next, when those lawny films I see", "Play with a wild civility;", "And all those airy silks to flow,", "Alluring me, and tempting so--", "I must confess, mine eye and heart", "Dotes less on nature than on art." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "UPON A CHILD", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Here a pretty baby lies", "Sung asleep with lullabies;", "Pray be silent, and not stir", "Th' easy earth that covers her." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "TO THE LADY CREWE, UPON THE DEATH OF HER CHILD", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Why, Madam, will ye longer weep,", "Whenas your baby's lull'd asleep?", "And, pretty child, feels now no more", "Those pains it lately felt before.", "", "All now is silent; groans are fled;", "Your child lies still, yet is not dead,", "But rather like a flower hid here,", "To spring again another year." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "His Prayer For Absolution", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "For those my unbaptized rhymes,", "Writ in my wild unhallowed times,", "For every sentence, clause, and word,", "That's not inlaid with Thee, my Lord,", "Forgive me, God, and blot each line", "Out of my book, that is not Thine.", "But if, 'mongst all, Thou find'st here one", "Worthy thy benediction,", "That one of all the rest shall be", "The glory of my work, and me." ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "TO THE VIRGINS, TO MAKE MUCH OF TIME", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Gather ye rose-buds while ye may:", "Old Time is still a-flying;", "And this same flower that smiles to-day,", "To-morrow will be dying.", "", "The glorious lamp of heaven, the Sun,", "The higher he's a-getting,", "The sooner will his race be run,", "And nearer he's to setting.", "", "That age is best, which is the first,", "When youth and blood are warmer;", "But being spent, the worse, and worst", "Times, still succeed the former.", "", "--Then be not coy, but use your time,", "And while ye may, go marry;", "For having lost but once your prime,", "You may for ever tarry." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "AN EPITAPH UPON A CHILD", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Virgins promised when I died,", "That they would each primrose-tide", "Duly, morn and evening, come,", "And with flowers dress my tomb.", "--Having promised, pay your debts", "Maids, and here strew violets." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "To Virgins, to Make Much of Time", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,", "Old time is still a-flying", "And this same flower that smiles today", "Tomorrow will be dying.", "", "The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,", "The higher he's a-getting,", "The sooner will his race be run,", "And nearer he's to setting.", "", "That age is best which is the first,", "When youth and blood are warmer;", "But being spent, the worse, and worst", "Times still succeed the former.", "", "Then be not coy, but use your time,", "And, while ye may, go marry;", "For, having lost but once your prime,", "You may forever tarry." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "TO HIS DYING BROTHER, MASTER WILLIAM HERRICK", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Life of my life, take not so soon thy flight,", "But stay the time till we have bade good-night.", "Thou hast both wind and tide with thee; thy way", "As soon dispatch'd is by the night as day.", "Let us not then so rudely henceforth go", "Till we have wept, kiss'd, sigh'd, shook hands, or so.", "There's pain in parting, and a kind of hell", "When once true lovers take their last farewell.", "What? shall we two our endless leaves take here", "Without a sad look, or a solemn tear?", "He knows not love that hath not this truth proved,", "Love is most loth to leave the thing beloved.", "Pay we our vows and go; yet when we part,", "Then, even then, I will bequeath my heart", "Into thy loving hands; for I'll keep none", "To warm my breast, when thou, my pulse, art gone,", "No, here I'll last, and walk, a harmless shade,", "About this urn, wherein thy dust is laid,", "To guard it so, as nothing here shall be", "Heavy, to hurt those sacred seeds of thee." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "TO ENJOY THE TIME", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "While fates permit us, let's be merry;", "Pass all we must the fatal ferry;", "And this our life, too, whirls away,", "With the rotation of the day." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "UPON A CHILD THAT DIED", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Here she lies, a pretty bud,", "Lately made of flesh and blood;", "Who as soon fell fast asleep,", "As her little eyes did peep.", "--Give her strewings, but not stir", "The earth, that lightly covers her." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "To his Girls", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Wanton wenches do not bring", "For my hairs black colouring :", "For my locks, girls, let 'em be", "Grey or white, all's one to me." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "TO HIS SAVIOUR, A CHILD;A PRESENT, BY A CHILD", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Go, pretty child, and bear this flower", "Unto thy little Saviour;", "And tell him, by that bud now blown,", "He is the Rose of Sharon known.", "When thou hast said so, stick it there", "Upon his bib or stomacher;", "And tell him, for good handsel too,", "That thou hast brought a whistle new,", "Made of a clean straight oaten reed,", "To charm his cries at time of need;", "Tell him, for coral, thou hast none,", "But if thou hadst, he should have one;", "But poor thou art, and known to be", "Even as moneyless as he.", "Lastly, if thou canst win a kiss", "From those melifluous lips of his;--", "Then never take a second on,", "To spoil the first impression." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "THE PARLIAMENT OF ROSES TO JULIA", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "I dreamt the Roses one time went", "To meet and sit in Parliament;", "The place for these, and for the rest", "Of flowers, was thy spotless breast.", "Over the which a state was drawn", "Of tiffany, or cob-web lawn;", "Then in that Parly all those powers", "Voted the Rose the Queen of flowers;", "But so, as that herself should be", "The Maid of Honour unto thee." ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "TO HIS KINSWOMAN, MISTRESS SUSANNA HERRICK", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "When I consider, dearest, thou dost stay", "But here awhile, to languish and decay;", "Like to these garden glories, which here be", "The flowery-sweet resemblances of thee:", "With grief of heart, methinks, I thus do cry,", "Would thou hadst ne'er been born, or might'st not die!" ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "Time was upon", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Wrinkles no more are, or no less,", "Than beauty turn'd to sourness." ], "linecount": "2" }, { "title": "A Thanksgiving to God for His House", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Lord, Thou hast given me a cell", "Wherein to dwell;", "An little house, whose humble roof", "Is weather-proof;", "Under the spars of which I lie", "Both soft and dry;", "Where Thou my chamber for to ward", "Hast set a guard", "Of harmless thoughts, to watch and keep", "Me, while I sleep.", "Low is my porch as is my fate,", "Both void of state;", "And yet the threshold of my door", "Is worn by'th' poor,", "Who thither come, and freely get", "Good words, or meat;", "Like as my parlour, so my hall", "And kitchen's small;", "A little butterie and therein", "A little bin,", "Which keeps my little loaf of bread", "Unchipp'd, unflay'd;", "Some brittle sticks of thorn or briar", "Make me a fire,", "Close by whose living coal I sit,", "And glow like it.", "Lord, I confess too, when I dine,", "The pulse is Thine,", "And all those other bits that be", "There plac'd by Thee;", "The worts, the purslain, and the mess", "Of water-cress,", "Which of Thy kindness Thou hast sent;", "And my content", "Makes those, and my beloved beet,", "To be more sweet.", "'Tis Thou that crown'st my glitt'ring hearth", "With guiltless mirth;", "And giv'st me wassail bowls to drink,", "Spic'd to the brink.", "Lord, 'tis Thy plenty-dropping hand", "That soils my land;", "And giv'st me, for my bushel sown,", "Twice ten for one;", "Thou mak'st my teeming hen to lay", "Her egg each day;", "Besides my healthful ewes to bear", "Me twins each year;", "The while the conduits of my kine", "Run cream (for wine.)", "All these, and better Thou dost send", "Me, to this end,", "That I should render, for my part,", "A thankful heart,", "Which, fir'd with incense, I resign", "As wholly Thine;", "But the acceptance, that must be,", "My Christ, by Thee." ], "linecount": "58" }, { "title": "TO A GENTLEWOMAN, OBJECTING TO HIM HISGRAY HAIRS", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Am I despised, because you say;", "And I dare swear, that I am gray?", "Know, Lady, you have but your day!", "And time will come when you shall wear", "Such frost and snow upon your hair;", "And when, though long, it comes to pass,", "You question with your looking-glass,", "And in that sincere crystal seek", "But find no rose-bud in your cheek,", "Nor any bed to give the shew", "Where such a rare carnation grew:-", "Ah! then too late, close in your chamber keeping,", "It will be told", "That you are old,--", "By those true tears you're weeping." ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "TO THE ROSE: SONG", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Go, happy Rose, and interwove", "With other flowers, bind my Love.", "Tell her, too, she must not be", "Longer flowing, longer free,", "That so oft has fetter'd me.", "", "Say, if she's fretful, I have bands", "Of pearl and gold, to bind her hands;", "Tell her, if she struggle still,", "I have myrtle rods at will,", "For to tame, though not to kill.", "", "Take thou my blessing thus, and go", "And tell her this,--but do not so!--", "Lest a handsome anger fly", "Like a lightning from her eye,", "And burn thee up, as well as I!" ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "NO FAULT IN WOMEN", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "No fault in women, to refuse", "The offer which they most would chuse.", "--No fault: in women, to confess", "How tedious they are in their dress;", "--No fault in women, to lay on", "The tincture of vermilion;", "And there to give the cheek a dye", "Of white, where Nature doth deny.", "--No fault in women, to make show", "Of largeness, when they're nothing so;", "When, true it is, the outside swells", "With inward buckram, little else.", "--No fault in women, though they be", "But seldom from suspicion free;", "--No fault in womankind at all,", "If they but slip, and never fall." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "HIS MISTRESS TO HIM AT HIS FAREWELL", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "You may vow I'll not forget", "To pay the debt", "Which to thy memory stands as due", "As faith can seal it you.", "--Take then tribute of my tears;", "So long as I have fears", "To prompt me, I shall ever", "Languish and look, but thy return see never.", "Oh then to lessen my despair,", "Print thy lips into(the air,", "So by this", "Means, I may kiss thy kiss,", "Whenas some kind", "Wind", "Shall hither waft it:--And, in lieu,", "My lips shall send a thousand back to you." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "LIFE IS THE BODY'S LIGHT", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Life is the body's light; which, once declining,", "Those crimson clouds i' th' cheeks and lips leave shining:-", "Those counter-changed tabbies in the air,", "The sun once set, all of one colour are:", "So, when death comes, fresh tinctures lose their place,", "And dismal darkness then doth smutch the face." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "Epitaph upon a Child that died", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "HERE she lies, a pretty bud,", "Lately made of flesh and blood:", "Who as soon fell fast asleep", "As her little eyes did peep.", "Give her strewings, but not stir", "The earth that lightly covers her." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "An Ode to Master Endymion Porter, Upon His Brother's Death", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Not all thy flushing suns are set,", "Herrick, as yet ;", "Nor doth this far-drawn hemisphere", "Frown and look sullen ev'rywhere.", "Days may conclude in nights, and suns may rest", "As dead within the west ;", "Yet, the next morn, regild the fragrant east.", "", "Alas ! for me, that I have lost", "E'en all almost ;", "Sunk is my sight, set is my sun,", "And all the loom of life undone :", "The staff, the elm, the prop, the shelt'ring wall", "Whereon my vine did crawl,", "Now, now blown down ; needs must the old stock fall.", "", "Yet, Porter, while thou keep'st alive,", "In death I thrive :", "And like a phoenix re-aspire", "From out my nard and fun'ral fire ;", "And as I prune my feathered youth, so I", "Do mar'l how I could die", "When I had thee, my chief preserver, by.", "", "I'm up, I'm up, and bless that hand", "Which makes me stand", "Now as I do, and but for thee", "I must confess I could not be.", "The debt is paid ; for he who doth resign", "Thanks to the gen'rous vine", "Invites fresh grapes to fill his press with wine." ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "A Lyric to Mirth", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "While the milder fates consent,", "Let's enjoy our merriment :", "Drink, and dance, and pipe, and play ;", "Kiss our dollies night and day :", "Crowned with clusters of the vine,", "Let us sit, and quaff our wine.", "Call on Bacchus, chant his praise ;", "Shake the thyrse, and bite the bays :", "Rouse Anacreon from the dead,", "And return him drunk to bed :", "Sing o'er Horace, for ere long", "Death will come and mar the song :", "Then shall Wilson and Gotiere", "Never sing or play more here." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "His Prayer To Ben Jonson", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "When I a verse shall make,", "Know I have pray'd thee,", "For old religion's sake,", "Saint Ben to aid me.", "", "Make the way smooth for me,", "When I, thy Herrick,", "Honouring thee, on my knee", "Offer my lyric.", "", "Candles I'll give to thee,", "And a new altar,", "And thou, Saint Ben, shalt be", "Writ in my psalter." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "THE FUNERAL RITES OF THE ROSE", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "The Rose was sick, and smiling died;", "And, being to be sanctified,", "About the bed, there sighing stood", "The sweet and flowery sisterhood.", "Some hung the head, while some did bring,", "To wash her, water from the spring;", "Some laid her forth, while others wept,", "But all a solemn fast there kept.", "The holy sisters some among,", "The sacred dirge and trental sung;", "But ah! what sweets smelt everywhere,", "As heaven had spent all perfumes there!", "At last, when prayers for the dead,", "And rites, were all accomplished,", "They, weeping, spread a lawny loom,", "And closed her up as in a tomb." ], "linecount": "16" } ]