Robert Herrick

"You may vow I'll not forget To pay the debt Which to thy memory stands as due As faith can seal it you. Take then tribute of my tears; So long as"

"Verse. My God, I'm wounded by my sin,         And sore without, and sick within.     Ver. Chor. I come to Thee, in hope to find         Salve f"

"Thanksgiving for a former, doth invite     God to bestow a second benefit."

"As many laws and lawyers do express     Nought but a kingdom's ill-affectedness;     Even so, those streets and houses do but show     Store of"

"Among the myrtles as I walk'd Love and my sighs thus intertalk'd: Tell me, said I, in deep distress, Where I may find my Shepherdess? Thou fool, s"

"LACON:    For a kiss or two, confess, What doth cause this pensiveness, Thou most lovely neat-herdess? Why so lonely on the hill? Why thy pipe by"

"First, for effusions due unto the dead, My solemn vows have here accomplished; Next, how I love thee, that my grief must tell, Wherein thou liv'st"

"'Twixt kings and subjects there's this mighty odds:     Subjects are taught by men; kings by the gods."

"In this little vault she lies,     Here, with all her jealousies:     Quiet yet; but if ye make     Any noise they both will wake,     And suc"

"Partly work and partly play     Ye must on S. Distaff's day:     From the plough soon free your team,     Then come home and fodder them."

"Let the superstitious wife     Near the child's heart lay a knife:     Point be up, and haft be down     (While she gossips in the town);"

"How fierce was I, when I did see     My Julia wash herself in thee!     So lilies thorough crystal look:     So purest pebbles in the brook:"

"God's bounty, that ebbs less and less     As men do wane in thankfulness."

"Welcome, great Csar, welcome now you are     As dearest peace after destructive war:     Welcome as slumbers, or as beds of ease     After our"

"An old, old widow Greedy needs would wed,     Not for affection to her or her bed;     But in regard, 'twas often said, this old     Woman woul"

"Come, bring with a noise, My merry, merry boys, The Christmas Log to the firing; While my good Dame, she Bids ye all be free; And drink to your h"

"What's that we see from far? the spring of day     Bloom'd from the east, or fair enjewell'd May     Blown out of April, or some new     Star f"

"Rush saves his shoes in wet and snowy weather;     And fears in summer to wear out the leather;     This is strong thrift that wary Rush doth us"

"Paul's hands do give; what give they, bread or meat,     Or money? no, but only dew and sweat.     As stones and salt gloves use to give, even s"

"Whither? say, whither shall I fly,     To slack these flames wherein I fry?     To the treasures, shall I go,     Of the rain, frost, hail, and"

"To gather flowers, Sappha went, And homeward she did bring Within her lawny continent, The treasure of the Spring. She smiling blush'd, and blush"

"These temporal goods God, the most wise, commends     To th' good and bad in common for two ends:     First, that these goods none here may o'er"

"By the weak'st means things mighty are o'erthrown.     He's lord of thy life who contemns his own."

"When once the soul has lost her way,     O then how restless does she stray!     And having not her God for light,     How does she err in endl"

"When to thy porch I come and ravish'd see     The state of poets there attending thee,     Those bards and I, all in a chorus sing:     We are"

"Many we are, and yet but few possess     Those fields of everlasting happiness."

"Love is maintain'd by wealth; when all is spent,     Adversity then breeds the discontent."

"A way enhanced with glass and beads There is, that to the Chapel leads; Whose structure, for his holy rest, Is here the Halcyon's curious nest; In"

"How could Luke Smeaton wear a shoe, or boot,     Who two-and-thirty corns had on a foot."

"If ye will with Mab find grace, Set each platter in his place; Rake the fire up, and get Water in, ere sun be set. Wash your pails and cleanse you"

"'Tis not greatness they require     To be offer'd up by fire;     But 'tis sweetness that doth please     Those Eternal Essences."

"True to yourself and sheets, you'll have me swear;     You shall, if righteous dealing I find there.     Do not you fall through frailty; I'll b"

"Jealous girls these sometimes were,     While they liv'd or lasted here:     Turn'd to flowers, still they be     Yellow, mark'd for jealousy."

"Franck ne'er wore silk she swears; but I reply,     She now wears silk to hide her blood-shot eye."

"Live, live with me, and thou shalt see The pleasures I'll prepare for thee: What sweets the country can afford Shall bless thy bed, and bless thy b"

"Meg yesterday was troubled with a pose,     Which, this night harden'd, sodders up her nose."

"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"

"It is sufficient if we pray     To Jove, who gives and takes away:     Let him the land and living find;     Let me alone to fit the mind."

"It was, and still my care is,     To worship ye, the Lares,     With crowns of greenest parsley     And garlic chives, not scarcely;     For f"

"Christ never did so great a work but there     His human nature did in part appear;     Or ne'er so mean a piece but men might see     Therein"

"That for seven lusters I did never come     To do the rites to thy religious tomb;     That neither hair was cut, or true tears shed     By me,"

"Boreman takes toll, cheats, natters, lies; yet Boreman,     For all the devil helps, will be a poor man."

"Since, for thy full deserts, with all the rest     Of these chaste spirits that are here possest     Of life eternal, time has made thee one"

"'Tis the Chirurgeon's praise, and height of art,     Not to cut off, but cure the vicious part."

"Scobble for whoredom whips his wife; and cries     He'll slit her nose; but blubb'ring, she replies,     Good sir, make no more cuts i' th' outw"

"Sibb, when she saw her face how hard it was,     For anger spat on thee, her looking-glass:     But weep not, crystal; for the same was meant"

"When after many lusters thou shalt be     Wrapt up in sear-cloth with thine ancestry;     When of thy ragg'd escutcheons shall be seen     So l"

"Before man's fall the rose was born,     St. Ambrose says, without the thorn;     But for man's fault then was the thorn     Without the fragra"

"My wearied bark, O let it now be crown'd!     The haven reach'd to which I first was bound."

"Fortune did never favour one     Fully, without exception;     Though free she be, there's something yet     Still wanting to her favourite."

"Rasp plays at nine-holes; and 'tis known he gets     Many a tester by his game and bets:     But of his gettings there's but little sign;     W"

"God doth not promise here to man that He     Will free him quickly from his misery;     But in His own time, and when He thinks fit,     Then H"

"God doth embrace the good with love; and gains     The good by mercy, as the bad by pains."

"The bad among the good are here mix'd ever;     The good without the bad are here plac'd never."

"Ponder my words, if so that any be Known guilty here of incivility; Let what is graceless, discomposed, and rude, With sweetness, smoothness, softn"

"O jealousy, that art     The canker of the heart;     And mak'st all hell     Where thou do'st dwell;     For pity be     No fury, or no fire"

"Kings must not only cherish up the good,     But must be niggards of the meanest blood."

"Julia was careless, and withal     She rather took than got a fall,     The wanton ambler chanc'd to see     Part of her legs' sincerity:"

"Ere I go hence and be no more     Seen to the world, I'll give the score     I owe unto a female child,     And that is this, a verse enstyled"

"Who begs to die for fear of human need,     Wisheth his body, not his soul, good speed."