Robert Herrick

"I crawl, I creep; my Christ, I come     To Thee for curing balsamum:     Thou hast, nay more, Thou art the tree     Affording salve of sovereig"

"When I go hence, ye Closet-Gods, I fear     Never again to have ingression here     Where I have had whatever thing could be     Pleasant and p"

"This is the height of justice: that to do     Thyself which thou put'st other men unto.     As great men lead, the meaner follow on,     Or to"

"Reape's eyes so raw are that, it seems, the flies     Mistake the flesh, and fly-blow both his eyes;     So that an angler, for a day's expense,"

"Where God is merry, there write down thy fears:     What He with laughter speaks, hear thou with tears."

"Men must have bounds how far to walk; for we     Are made far worse by lawless liberty."

"For all thy many courtesies to me,     Nothing I have, my Crofts, to send to thee     For the requital, save this only one     Half of my just"

"Blanch swears her husband's lovely; when a scald     Has blear'd his eyes: besides, his head is bald     Next, his wild ears, like leathern wing"

"Bacchus, let me drink no more! Wild are seas that want a shore! When our drinking has no stint, There is no one pleasure in't. I have drank up for"

"Lasciviousness is known to be     The sister to saturity."

"Women, although they ne'er so goodly make it,     Their fashion is, but to say no, to take it."

"In holy meetings there a man may be     One of the crowd, not of the company."

"One asked me where the roses grew: I bade him not go seek, But forwith bade my Julia show A bud in either cheek."

"'Tis still observ'd those men most valiant are,     That are most modest ere they come to war."

"Stand by the magic of my powerful rhymes     'Gainst all the indignation of the times.     Age shall not wrong thee; or one jot abate     Of th"

"Thy former coming was to cure     My soul's most desp'rate calenture;     Thy second advent, that must be     To heal my earth's infirmity."

"The body is the soul's poor house or home,     Whose ribs the laths are, and whose flesh the loam."

"What now we like anon we disapprove:     The new successor drives away old love."

"Sudds launders bands in piss, and starches them     Both with her husband's and her own tough fleam."

"About the sweet bag of a bee Two cupids fell at odds, And whose the pretty prize should be They vowed to ask the gods. Which Venus hearing, thith"

"'Tis worse than barbarous cruelty to show     No part of pity on a conquered foe."

"What is the reason Coone so dully smells?     His nose is over-cool'd with icicles."

"Mighty Neptune, may it please     Thee, the rector of the seas,     That my barque may safely run     Through thy watery region;     And a tun"

"As in our clothes, so likewise he who looks,     Shall find much farcing buckram in our books."

"He who has suffered shipwreck fears to sail     Upon the seas, though with a gentle gale."

"I heard ye could cool heat, and came     With hope you would allay the same;     Thrice I have wash'd but feel no cold,     Nor find that true"

"God gives to none so absolute an ease     As not to know or feel some grievances."

"Sinners confounded are a twofold way,     Either as when, the learned schoolmen say,     Men's sins destroyed are when they repent,     Or when"

"Two parts of us successively command:     The tongue in peace; but then in war the hand."

"Lord, thou hast given me a cell, Wherein to dwell; A little house, whose humble roof Is weather proof; Under the spars of which I lie Both soft a"

"Ralph pares his nails, his warts, his corns, and Ralph     In sev'rall tills and boxes, keeps 'em safe;     Instead of hartshorn, if he speaks t"

"If Nature do deny     Colours, let Art supply."

"When a man's faith is frozen up, as dead;     Then is the lamp and oil extinguished."

"Some would know     Why I so     Long still do tarry,     And ask why     Here that I     Live and not marry.     Thus I those     Do oppos"

"Thou writes in prose how sweet all virgins be;     But there's not one, doth praise the smell of thee."

"A golden fly one show'd to me,     Clos'd in a box of ivory,     Where both seem'd proud: the fly to have     His burial in an ivory grave;"

"Gold serves for tribute to the king,     The frankincense for God's off'ring."

"Come guard this night the Christmas-Pie, That the thief, though ne'er so sly, With his flesh-hooks, don't come nigh To catch it From him, who all"

"Hanch, since he lately did inter his wife,     He weeps and sighs, as weary of his life.     Say, is't for real grief he mourns? not so;     Te"

"The lictors bundled up their rods; beside,     Knit them with knots with much ado unti'd,     That if, unknitting, men would yet repent,     Th"

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

"Fame's pillar here, at last, we set,     Outduring    marble,    brass,    or    jet.     Charm'd     and     enchanted    so     As    to"

"Come with the spring-time forth, fair maid, and be     This year again the meadow's deity.     Yet ere ye enter give us leave to set     Upon y"

"O times most bad,     Without the scope     Of hope     Of better to be had!     Where shall I go,     Or whither run     To shun     This"

"Life of my life, take not so soon thy flight,     But stay the time till we have bade good-night.     Thou hast both wind and tide with thee; th"

"How am I bound to Two! God, who doth give     The mind; the king, the means whereby I live."

"One man repentant is of more esteem     With God, than one that never sinned 'gainst Him."

"Eaten I have; and though I had good cheer,     I did not sup, because no friends were there.     Where mirth and friends are absent when we dine"

"All things subjected are to fate;     Whom this morn sees most fortunate,     The evening sees in poor estate."

"As gilliflowers do but stay     To blow, and seed, and so away;     So you, sweet lady, sweet as May,     The garden's glory, lived a while"

"Life is the body's light; which, once declining, Those crimson clouds i' th' cheeks and lips leave shining: Those counter-changed tabbies in the air"

"Go on, brave Hopton, to effectuate that     Which we, and times to come, shall wonder at.     Lift up thy sword; next, suffer it to fall,     A"

"Heaven is most fair; but fairer He     That made that fairest canopy."

"For my embalming, Julia, do but this;     Give thou my lips but their supremest kiss,     Or else transfuse thy breath into the chest     Where"

"Seest thou those diamonds which she wears     In that rich carcanet;     Or those, on her dishevell'd hairs,     Fair pearls in order set?"

"Please your Grace, from out your store Give an alms to one that's poor, That your mickle may have more. Black I'm grown for want of meat, Give me"

"Wantons we are, and though our words be such,     Our lives do differ from our lines by much."

"Fools are they who never know     How the times away do go;     But for us, who wisely see     Where the bounds of black death be,     Let's l"

"Prue, my dearest maid, is sick,     Almost to be lunatic:     sculapius! come and bring     Means for her recovering;     And a gallant cock"

"Would I see lawn, clear as the heaven, and thin?     It should be only in my Julia's skin,     Which so betrays her blood as we discover     Th"