Robert Herrick

"Though a wise man all pressures can sustain,     His virtue still is sensible of pain:     Large shoulders though he has, and well can bear,"

"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"

"Let fair or foul my mistress be, Or low, or tall, she pleaseth me; Or let her walk, or stand, or sit, The posture her's, I'm pleased with it; Or l"

"My God! look on me with Thine eye     Of pity, not of scrutiny;     For if Thou dost, Thou then shalt see     Nothing but loathsome sores in me"

"Here we are all, by day; by night we're hurl'd By dreams, each one into a several world."

"Fortune no higher project can devise     Than to sow discord 'mongst the enemies."

"God is not only said to be     An Ens, but Supraentity."

"Out of the world he must, who once comes in.     No man exempted is from death, or sin."

"You say, to me-wards your affection's strong;     Pray love me little, so you love me long.     Slowly goes far: the mean is best: desire,"

"God hates the dual number, being known     The luckless number of division;     And when He bless'd each sev'ral day whereon     He did His cur"

"Pastoral Sung To The King MON.    Bad are the times.    SIL.    And worse than they are we. MON.    Troth, bad are both; worse fruit, and ill the t"

"To conquered men, some comfort 'tis to fall     By the hand of him who is the general."

"Goes the world now, it will with thee go hard:     The fattest hogs we grease the more with lard.     To him that has, there shall be added more"

"Alas! I can't, for tell me, how     Can I be gamesome, aged now?     Besides, ye see me daily grow     Here, winter-like, to frost and snow;"

"My wooing's ended: now my wedding's near     When gloves are giving, gilded be you there."

"I'll write, because I'll give     You critics means to live;     For should I not supply     The cause, th' effect would die."

"Stripes, justly given, yerk us with their fall;     But causeless whipping smarts the most of all."

"Preposterous is that order, when we run     To ask our wages ere our work be done."

"Our mortal parts may wrapp'd in sear-cloths lie:     Great spirits never with their bodies die."

"Sitting alone, as one forsook,     Close by a silver-shedding brook,     With hands held up to love, I wept;     And after sorrows spent I slep"

"Sneape has a face so brittle, that it breaks     Forth into blushes whensoe'er he speaks."

"That prince must govern with a gentle hand     Who will have love comply with his command."

"Love, love me now, because I place     Thee here among my righteous race:     The bastard slips may droop and die     Wanting both root and ear"

"This stone can tell the story of my life,     What was my birth, to whom I was a wife:     In teeming years, how soon my sun was set.     Where"

"That prince who may do nothing but what's just,     Rules but by leave, and takes his crown on trust."

"I burn, I burn; and beg of you     To quench or cool me with your dew.     I fry in fire, and so consume,     Although the pile be all perfume."

"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 ente"

"God is above the sphere of our esteem,     And is the best known, not defining Him."

"If little labour, little are our gains; Man's fortunes are according to his pains."

"What conscience, say, is it in thee, When I a heart had one, [won] To take away that heart from me, And to retain thy own? For shame or pity, now"

"God hath two wings which He doth ever move;     The one is mercy, and the next is love:     Under the first the sinners ever trust;     And wit"

"Come, come away Or let me go; Must I here stay Because you're slow, And will continue so; Troth, lady, no. I scorn to be A slave to state; An"

"Blisse, last night drunk, did kiss his mother's knee;     Where will he kiss, next drunk, conjecture ye."

"If 'mongst my many poems I can see     One only worthy to be wash'd by thee,     I live for ever, let the rest all lie     In dens of darkness"

"For one so rarely tun'd to fit all parts,     For one to whom espous'd are all the arts,     Long have I sought for, but could never see     Th"

"Go I must; when I am gone,     Write but this upon my stone:     Chaste I lived, without a wife,     That's the story of my life.     Strewing"

"Adverse and prosperous fortunes both work on     Here, for the righteous man's salvation;     Be he oppos'd, or be he not withstood,     All se"

"Skoles stinks so deadly, that his breeches loath     His dampish buttocks furthermore to clothe;     Cloy'd they are up with arse; but hope, one"

"Jolly and Jilly bite and scratch all day,     But yet get children (as the neighbours say).     The reason is: though all the day they fight,"

"See and not see, and if thou chance t'espy     Some aberrations in my poetry,     Wink at small faults; the greater, ne'ertheless,     Hide, an"

"We trust not to the multitude in war,     But to the stout, and those that skilful are."

"Sweet virgin, that I do not set     The pillars up of weeping jet     Or mournful marble, let thy shade     Not wrathful seem, or fright the ma"

"At draw-gloves we'll play, And prithee let's lay A wager, and let it be this: Who first to the sum Of twenty shall come, Shall have for his winni"

"God hears us when we pray, but yet defers     His gifts, to exercise petitioners;     And though a while He makes requesters stay,     With pri"

"Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt;     Nothing's so hard but search will find it out."

"Sing me to death; for till thy voice be clear,     'Twill never please the palate of mine ear."

"Great men by small means oft are overthrown; He's lord of thy life, who contemns his own."

"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"

"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, a"

"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 lo"

"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"

"When I thy singing next shall hear, I'll wish I might turn all to ear, To drink-in notes and numbers, such As blessed souls can't hear too much Th"

"I bring ye love.    QUES. What will love do? ANS. Like, and dislike ye. I bring ye love.    QUES. What will love do? ANS. Stroke ye, to strike ye."

"As my little pot doth boil,     We will keep this level-coil,     That a wave and I will bring     To my God a heave-offering."

"We are co-heirs with Christ; nor shall His own     Heirship be less by our adoption.     The number here of heirs shall from the state     Of H"

"Much-more provides and hoards up like an ant,     Yet Much-more still complains he is in want.     Let Much-more justly pay his tithes; then try"

"Would ye oil of blossoms get?     Take it from my Julia's sweat:     Oil of lilies and of spike?     From her moisture take the like.     Let"

"Burn, or drown me, choose ye whether,     So I may but die together;     Thus to slay me by degrees     Is the height of cruelties.     What n"

"When Chub brings in his harvest, still he cries,     "Aha, my boys! here's meat for Christmas pies!"     Soon after he for beer so scores his wh"

"When I thy parts run o'er, I can't espy In any one, the least indecency; But every line and limb diffused thence A fair and unfamiliar excellence;"