24
" HIS COVENANT OR PROTESTATION TO JULIA Why dost thou wound and break my heart,
As if we should for ever part?
Hast thou not heard an oath from me,
After a day, or two, or three,
I would come back and live with thee?
Take, if thou dost distrust that vow,
This second protestation now:—
Upon thy cheek that spangled tear,
Which sits as dew of roses there,
That tear shall scarce be dried before
I'll kiss the threshold of thy door;
Then weep not, Sweet, but thus much know,—
I'm half returned before I go. "
― Robert Herrick , A selection from the lyrical poems of Robert Herrick
25
" LOVE DISLIKES NOTHING Whatsoever thing I see,
Rich or poor although it be,
—'Tis a mistress unto me.
Be my girl or fair or brown,
Does she smile, or does she frown;
Still I write a sweet-heart down.
Be she rough, or smooth of skin;
When I touch, I then begin
For to let affection in.
Be she bald, or does she wear
Locks incurl'd of other hair;
I shall find enchantment there.
Be she whole, or be she rent,
So my fancy be content,
She's to me most excellent.
Be she fat, or be she lean;
Be she sluttish, be she clean;
I'm a man for every scene. "
― Robert Herrick , A selection from the lyrical poems of Robert Herrick
26
" The Argument of his Book
I sing of Brooks, of Blossomes, Birds, and Flowers:
Of April, May, of June, and July-Flowers.
I sing of May-poles, Hock-carts, Wassails, Wakes,
Of Bride-grooms, Brides, and of their Bridall-cakes.
I write of Youth, of Love, and have Accesse
By these, to sing of cleanly-Wantonnesse.
I sing of Dewes, of Raines, and piece by piece
Of Balme, of Oyle, of Spice, and Amber-Greece.
I sing of Times trans-shifting; and I write
How Roses first came Red, and Lillies White.
I write of Groves, of Twilights, and I sing
The Court of Mab, and of the Fairie-King.
I write of Hell; I sing (and ever shall)
Of Heaven, and hope to have it after all.
"
― Robert Herrick , Selected Poems
27
" The Lilly in a Christal
You have beheld a smiling Rose
When Virgins hands have drawn
O’r it a Cobweb-Lawne:
And here, you see, this Lilly shows,
Tomb’d in a Christal stone,
More faire in this transparent case,
Then when it grew alone;
And had but single grace.
You see how Creame but naked is;
Nor daunces in the eye
Without a Strawberrie:
Or some fine tincture, like to this,
Which draws the sight thereto,
More by that wantoning with it;
Then when the paler hieu
No mixture did admit.
You see how Amber through the streams
More gently stroaks the sight,
With some conceal’d delight;
Then when he darts his radiant beams
Into the boundless aire:
Where either too much light his worth
Doth all at once impaire,
Or set it little forth.
Put Purple Grapes, or Cherries in-
To Glasse, and they will send
More beauty to commend
Them, from that cleane and sbutile skin,
Then if they naked stood,
And had no other pride at all,
But their own flesh and blood,
And tinctures natural.
Thus Lillie, Rose, Grape, Cherry, Creame
And Straw-berry do stir
More love, when they transfer
A weak, a soft, a broken beame;
Then if they sho’d discover
At fulltheir proper excellence;
Without some Scean cast over,
To juggle with the sense.
Thus let this Christal’d Lillie be
A Rule, how far to teach,
Your nakednesse must reach:
And that, no further, then we see
Those glaring colours laid
By Arts wise hand, but to this end
They sho’d obey a shade;
Lest they too far extend.
So though y’are white as Swan, or Snow,
And have the power to move
A world of men to love:
Yet, when your Lawns & Silks shal flow;
And that white cloud divide
Into a doubtful Twi-light; then,
Then will your hidden Pride
Raise greater fires in men.
"
― Robert Herrick , Selected Poems
29
" To Sycamores
I’m sick of Love; O let me lie
Under your shades, to sleep or die!
Either is welcome; so I have
Or here my Bed, or here my Grave.
Why do you sigh, and sob, and keep
Time with the tears, that I do weep?
Say, have ye sence, or do you prove
What Crucifixions are in Love?
I know ye do; and that’s the why,
You sigh for Love, as well as I
"
― Robert Herrick , Selected Poems
32
" HIS CONTENT IN THE COUNTRY HERE, Here I live with what my board
Can with the smallest cost afford;
Though ne'er so mean the viands be,
They well content my Prue and me:
Or pea or bean, or wort or beet,
Whatever comes, Content makes sweet.
Here we rejoice, because no rent
We pay for our poor tenement;
Wherein we rest, and never fear
The landlord or the usurer.
The quarter-day does ne'er affright
Our peaceful slumbers in the night:
We eat our own, and batten more,
Because we feed on no man's score;
But pity those whose flanks grow great,
Swell'd with the lard of other's meat.
We bless our fortunes, when we see
Our own beloved privacy;
And like our living, where we're known
To very few, or else to none. "
― Robert Herrick , A selection from the lyrical poems of Robert Herrick
33
" HIS RETURN TO LONDON From the dull confines of the drooping west,
To see the day spring from the pregnant east,
Ravish'd in spirit, I come, nay more, I fly
To thee, blest place of my nativity!
Thus, thus with hallow'd foot I touch the ground,
With thousand blessings by thy fortune crown'd.
O fruitful Genius! that bestowest here
An everlasting plenty year by year;
O place! O people! manners! framed to please
All nations, customs, kindreds, languages!
I am a free-born Roman; suffer then
That I amongst you live a citizen.
London my home is; though by hard fate sent
Into a long and irksome banishment;
Yet since call'd back, henceforward let me be,
O native country, repossess'd by thee!
For, rather than I'll to the west return,
I'll beg of thee first here to have mine urn.
Weak I am grown, and must in short time fall;
Give thou my sacred reliques burial. "
― Robert Herrick , A selection from the lyrical poems of Robert Herrick