TO THE VIRGINS, TO MAKE MUCH

1648.

OF TIME

GATHER ye rosebuds 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.

The 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.

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A SWEET disorder in the dress'
Kindles in clothes a wantonness;
A lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distraction;

An erring lace, which here and there
Inthralls the crimson stomacher;

A cuff neglectful, and thereby
Ribbons to flow confusedly;

A winning wave, deserving note,
In the tempestuous petticoat;

A careless shoestring, in whose tie
I see a wild civility;--

Do more bewitch me than when art
Is too precise in every part.

1648.

Robert Herrick.

1 ΓΙ Σ

TO ANTHEA; WHO MAY COMMAND

HIM ANYTHING

BID me to live, and I will live
Thy Protestant to be;

Or bid me love, and I will give
A loving heart to thee.

A heart as soft, a heart as kind,

A heart as sound and free

As in the whole world thou canst find,

That heart I'll give to thee.

Bid that heart stay, and it will stay

To honour thy decree:

Or bid it languish quite away,

And 't shall do so for thee.

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1648.

Bid me to weep, and I will weep

While I have eyes to see:
And, having none, yet will I keep
A heart to weep for thee.

Bid me despair, and I'll despair
Under that cypress-tree:
Or bid me die, and I will dare
E'en death to die for thee.

Thou art my life, my love, my heart,
The very eyes of me:

And hast command of every part
To live and die for thee.

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Robert Herrick.

TO DAISIES, NOT TO SHUT

1648.

SO SOON

SHUT not so soon; the dull-eyed night

Has not as yet begun

To make a seizure on the light,

Or to seal up the sun.

No marigolds yet closed are,

No shadows great appear;

Nor doth the early shepherd's star

Shine like a spangle here.

Stay but till my Julia close

Her life-begetting eye,

And let the whole world then dispose

Itself to live or die.

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Robert Herrick.

THE NIGHT-PIECE, TO JULIA

HER eyes the glow-worm lend thee,
The shooting stars attend thee;

And the elves also,

Whose little eyes glow

1648.

Like sparks of fire, befriend thee.

5

No Will-o'-the-wisp mislight thee,
Nor snake or slow-worm bite thee;
But on, on thy way

Not making a stay,

Since ghost there 's none to affright thee. 10

Let not the dark thee cumber:

What though the moon does slumber?

The stars of the night

Will lend thee their light

TO LUCASTA, GOING BEYOND

THE SEAS

IF to be absent were to be

Away from thee;

Or that when I am gone

You or I were alone;

Then, my Lucasta, might I crave

Pity from blustering wind or swallowing wave. 6

But I'll not sigh one blast or gale

To swell my sail,

Or pay a tear to 'suage

The foaming blue god's rage;
For whether he will let me pass

Or no, I'm still as happy as I was.

Though seas and land betwixt us both,

Our faith and troth,

Like separated souls,

All time and space controls::

Above the highest sphere we meet,

Unseen, unknown; and greet as Angels greet.

So then we do anticipate

Our after-fate,

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