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Upon Julia's Unlacing Herself

By Robert Herrick

Topics: classic

Tell, if thou canst, and truly, whence doth come This camphire, storax, spikenard, galbanum, These musks, these ambers, and those other smells Sweet as the Vestry of the Oracles. I'll tell thee: while my Julia did unlace Her silken bodice but a breathing space, The passive air such odour then assumed As when to Jove great Juno goes perfumed, Whose pure immortal body doth transmit A scent that fills both heaven and earth with it.

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"Tell, if thou canst, and truly, whence doth come..."

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Author:Robert Herrick

"Tell, if thou canst, and truly, whence doth come..." by Robert Herrick

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Robert Herrick

About Robert Herrick

Robert Herrick (1591–1674) was an English Cavalier poet whose "Hesperides" (1648) contains over 1,200 poems. His carpe diem verse "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" ("Gather ye rosebuds while ye may") and lyric poems celebrate love, beauty, and the passing of time.

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