Robert Herrick

"These fresh beauties, we can prove, Once were virgins, sick of love, Turn'd to flowers: still in some, Colours go and colours come."

"What can I do in poetry     Now the good spirit's gone from me?     Why, nothing now but lonely sit     And over-read what I have writ."

"Frolic virgins once these were, Overloving, living here; Being here their ends denied Ran for sweet-hearts mad, and died. Love, in pity of their t"

"Why wore th' Egyptians jewels in the ear?     But for to teach us, all the grace is there,     When we obey, by acting what we hear."

"You say you're sweet: how should we know Whether that you be sweet or no? From powders and perfumes keep free; Then we shall smell how sweet you be"

"Christ, I have read, did to His chaplains say,     Sending them forth, Salute no man by th' way:     Not that He taught His ministers to be"

"He who wears blacks, and mourns not for the dead,     Does but deride the party buried."

"'Tis still observ'd that fame ne'er sings     The order, but the sum of things."

"See how the poor do waiting stand     For the expansion of thy hand.     A wafer dol'd by thee will swell     Thousands to feed by miracle."

"Sea-born goddess, let me be By thy son thus graced, and thee, That whene'er I woo, I find Virgins coy, but not unkind. Let me, when I kiss a maid,"

"A funeral stone Or verse, I covet none; But only crave Of you that I may have A sacred laurel springing from my grave: Which being seen Blest wi"

"In battles what disasters fall,     The king he bears the blame of all."

"This rule of manners I will teach my guests:     To come with their own bellies unto feasts;     Not to eat equal portions, but to rise     Far"

"Hapcot! To thee the Fairy State I with discretion, dedicate. Because thou prizest things that are Curious, and un-familiar. Take first the feast;"

"Good princes must be pray'd for; for the bad     They must be borne with, and in rev'rence had.     Do they first pill thee, next pluck off thy"

"Display thy breasts, my Julia - there let me     Behold that circummortal purity,     Between whose glories there my lips I'll lay,     Ravish'"

"Bring the holy crust of bread,     Lay it underneath the head;     'Tis a certain charm to keep     Hags away, while children sleep."

"That little pretty bleeding part     Of foreskin send to me:     And I'll return a bleeding heart     For New-Year's gift to Thee.     Rich i"

"Parrat protests 'tis he, and only he     Can teach a man the art of memory:     Believe him not; for he forgot it quite,     Being drunk, who '"

"Come, sit we under yonder tree, Where merry as the maids we'll be; And as on primroses we sit, We'll venture, if we can, at wit; If not, at draw-g"

"Command the roof, great Genius, and from thence Into this house pour down thy influence, That through each room a golden pipe may run Of living wat"

"Why should we covet much, whenas we know     W'ave more to bear our charge than way to go?"

"Teage has told lies so long that when Teage tells     Truth, yet Teage's truths are untruths, nothing else."

"If I lie unburied, sir,     These my relics pray inter:     'Tis religion's part to see     Stones or turfs to cover me.     One word more I h"

"Julia, I bring To thee this Ring. Made for thy finger fit; To shew by this, That our love is (Or sho'd be) like to it. Close though it be, The"

"Thou hast promis'd, Lord, to be     With me in my misery;     Suffer me to be so bold     As to speak, Lord, say and hold."

"Spokes, when he sees a roasted pig, he swears     Nothing he loves on't but the chaps and ears:     But carve to him the fat flanks, and he shal"

"Things are uncertain; and the more we get, The more on icy pavements we are set."

"Stand with thy graces forth, brave man, and rise     High with thine own auspicious destinies:     Nor leave the search, and proof, till thou ca"

"The readiness of doing doth express     No other but the doer's willingness."

"Want is a softer wax, that takes thereon, This, that, and every base impression,"

"I will be short, and having quickly hurl'd     This line about, live thou throughout the world;     Who art a man for all scenes; unto whom,"

"Tell, if thou canst, and truly, whence doth come This camphire, storax, spikenard, galbanum, These musks, these ambers, and those other smells Swee"

"Last night thou didst invite me home to eat;     And showed me there much plate, but little meat.     Prithee, when next thou do'st invite, bar"

"Grudgings turns bread to stones, when to the poor     He gives an alms, and chides them from his door."

"MONTANO, SILVIO, AND MIRTILLO, SHEPHERDS MON. Bad are the times. SIL. And worse than they are we. MON. Troth, bad are both; worse fruit, and ill th"

"Curse not the mice, no grist of thine they eat;     But curse thy children, they consume thy wheat."

"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 see"

"When I departed am, ring thou my knell,     Thou pitiful and pretty Philomel:     And when I'm laid out for a corse, then be     Thou sexton, r"

"The hag is astride This night for to ride, The devil and she together; Through thick and through thin, Now out and then in, Though ne'er so foul"

"Sweet western wind, whose luck it is,     Made rival with the air,     To give Perenna's lip a kiss,     And fan her wanton hair.     Bring m"

"Die ere long, I'm sure, I shall;     After leaves, the tree must fall."

"Instead of orient pearls of jet     I sent my love a carcanet;     About her spotless neck she knit     The lace, to honour me or it:     Then"

"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 p"

"Vinegar is no other, I define,     Than the dead corps, or carcase of the wine."

"If nine times you your bridegroom kiss,     The tenth you know the parson's is.     Pay then your tithe, and doing thus,     Prove in your brid"

"Wash clean the vessel, lest ye sour     Whatever liquor in ye pour."

"Come, skilful Lupo, now, and take     Thy bice, thy umber, pink, and lake;     And let it be thy pencil's strife,     To paint a Bridgeman to t"

"Tell me, rich man, for what intent     Thou load'st with gold thy vestiment?     Whenas the poor cry out: To us     Belongs all gold superfluou"

"Hear, ye virgins, and I'll teach     What the times of old did preach.     Rosamond was in a bower     Kept, as Danae in a tower:     But yet"

"God's rod doth watch while men do sleep, and then     The rod doth sleep, while vigilant are men."

"God can do all things, save but what are known     For to imply a contradiction."

"I cannot suffer; and in this my part     Of patience wants. Grief breaks the stoutest heart."

"Kings must not oft be seen by public eyes:     State at a distance adds to dignities."

"Wash your hands, or else the fire Will not tend to your desire; Unwashed hands, ye maidens, know, Dead the fire, though ye blow."

"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"

"By so much, virtue is the less,     By how much, near to singleness."

"He that is hurt seeks help: sin is the wound;     The salve for this i' th' Eucharist is found."

"Time is the bound of things; where'er we go     Fate gives a meeting, Death's the end of woe."

"Umber was painting of a lion fierce,     And, working it, by chance from Umber's erse     Flew out a crack, so mighty, that the fart,     As Um"