Robert Herrick

"Let's be jocund while we may,     All things have an ending day;     And when once the work is done,     Fates revolve no flax they've spun."

"Batt he gets children, not for love to rear 'em;     But out of hope his wife might die to bear 'em."

"When first I find those numbers thou dost write,     To be most soft, terse, sweet, and perpolite:     Next, when I see thee tow'ring in the sky"

"Dead falls the cause if once the hand be mute;     But let that speak, the client gets the suit."

"'Tis hard to find God, but to comprehend     Him, as He is, is labour without end."

"Rise, household gods, and let us go;     But whither I myself not know.     First, let us dwell on rudest seas;     Next, with severest savages"

"Or look'd I back unto the times hence flown     To praise those Muses and dislike our own--     Or did I walk those Pan-gardens through,     T"

"Mercy, the wise Athenians held to be     Not an affection, but a deity."

"You say I love not, 'cause I do not play Still with your curls, and kiss the time away. You blame me, too, because I can't devise Some sport, to pl"

"Bell-man of night, if I about shall go For to deny my Master, do thou crow! Thou stop'st Saint Peter in the midst of sin; Stay me, by crowing, ere"

"One silver spoon shines in the house of Croot;     Who cannot buy or steal a second to't."

"Putrefaction is the end     Of all that nature doth intend."

"You ask me what I do, and how I live?     And, noble friend, this answer I must give:     Drooping, I draw on to the vaults of death,     O'er"

"God in His own day will be then severe     To punish great sins, who small faults whipt here."

"Now thou art dead, no eye shall ever see,     For shape and service, spaniel like to thee.     This shall my love do, give thy sad death one"

"That princes may possess a surer seat,     'Tis fit they make no one with them too great."

"Welcome, most welcome to our vows and us,     Most great and universal genius!     The drooping West, which hitherto has stood     As one in lo"

"He that ascended in a cloud, shall come     In clouds descending to the public doom."

"Noah the first was, as tradition says,     That did ordain the fast of forty days."

"Still to our gains our chief respect is had; Reward it is that makes us good or bad."

"What are our patches, tatters, rags, and rents,     But the base dregs and lees of vestiments?"

"This is my comfort when she's most unkind:     She can but spoil me of my means, not mind."

"O thou, the wonder of all days! O paragon, and pearl of praise! O Virgin-martyr, ever blest Above the rest Of all the maiden-train!    We come, A"

"To mortal men great loads allotted be,     But of all packs, no pack like poverty."

"Dundrige his issue hath; but is not styl'd,     For all his issue, father of one child."

"Well may my book come forth like public day     When such a light as you are leads the way,     Who are my work's creator, and alone     The fl"

"White as Zenobia's teeth, the which the girls     Of Rome did wear for their most precious pearls."

"Physicians fight not against men; but these     Combat for men by conquering the disease."

"Blessings in abundance come To the bride and to her groom; May the bed and this short night Know the fullness of delight! Pleasure many here atten"

"Who forms a godhead out of gold or stone     Makes not a god, but he that prays to one."

"Fortune's a blind profuser of her own,     Too much she gives to some, enough to none."

"If so be a toad be laid     In a sheep's-skin newly flay'd,     And that tied to man, 'twill sever     Him and his affections ever."

"Ye silent shades, whose each tree here Some relique of a saint doth wear; Who for some sweet-heart's sake, did prove The fire and martyrdom of Love"

"After this life, the wages shall     Not shared alike be unto all."

"None goes to warfare but with this intent -     The gains must dead the fears of detriment."

"Fly to my mistress, pretty pilfering bee, And say thou bring'st this honey-bag from me; When on her lip thou hast thy sweet dew placed, Mark if her"

"Two instruments belong unto our God:     The one a staff is and the next a rod;     That if the twig should chance too much to smart,     The s"

"Ah, Posthumus!    our years hence fly     And leave no sound:    nor piety,     Or prayers, or vow     Can keep the wrinkle from the brow;"

"Wither'd with years, and bed-rid Mumma lies;     Dry-roasted all, but raw yet in her eyes."

"If accusation only can draw blood,     None shall be guiltless, be he ne'er so good."

"Call me no more,     As heretofore,     The music of a feast;     Since now, alas!     The mirth that was     In me is dead or ceas'd."

"God ne'er afflicts us more than our desert,     Though He may seem to overact His part:     Sometimes He strikes us more than flesh can bear;"

"After true sorrow for our sins, our strife     Must last with Satan to the end of life."

"As sunbeams pierce the glass, and streaming in,     No crack or schism leave i' th' subtle skin:     So the Divine Hand worked and brake no thre"

"In all thy need, be thou possest Still with a well prepared breast; Nor let the shackles make thee sad; Thou canst but have what others had. And t"

"Lupes for the outside of his suit has paid;     But for his heart, he cannot have it made;     The reason is, his credit cannot get     The inw"

"My dearest Love, since thou wilt go, And leave me here behind thee; For love or pity, let me know The place where I may find thee. AMARIL.    In"

"You say, you love me! that I thus must prove:     It that you lie, then I will swear you love."

"God had but one Son free from sin; but none     Of all His sons free from correction."

"More discontents I never had Since I was born, than here; Where I have been, and still am, sad, In this dull Devonshire. Yet justly too I must con"

"Honour to you who sit Near to the well of wit, And drink your fill of it! Glory and worship be To you, sweet Maids, thrice three, Who still insp"

"What wisdom, learning, wit or worth     Youth or sweet nature could bring forth     Rests here with him who was the fame,     The volume of him"

"Spring with the lark, most comely bride, and meet     Your eager bridegroom with auspicious feet.     The morn's far spent, and the immortal sun"

"Why this flower is now call'd so,     List, sweet maids, and you shall know.     Understand, this firstling was     Once a brisk and bonnie las"

"Go, perjured man; and if thou e'er return     To see the small remainders in mine urn,     When thou shalt laugh at my religious dust,     And"

"Angels are called gods; yet of them, none     Are gods but by participation:     As just men are entitled gods, yet none     Are gods of them b"

"When words we want, Love teacheth to indite; And what we blush to speak, she bids us write."

"Prayers and praises are those spotless two     Lambs, by the law, which God requires as due."

"When Thou wast taken, Lord, I oft have read,     All Thy disciples Thee forsook and fled.     Let their example not a pattern be     For me to"

"Three fatal sisters wait upon each sin;     First, fear and shame without, then guilt within."