Robert Herrick

How Love came in,
I do not know,
Whether by th'eye, or ear, or no;
Or whether with the soul it came,

Now is the time for mirth,    Nor cheek or tongue be dumb;
For with the flow'ry earth    The golden pomp is come
The golden pomp is come;    For now each tree does wear,
Made of her pap and gum,    Rich beads of amber here

Scobble for whoredom whips his wife and
He'll slit her nose; but blubbering she replies,"Good sir, make no more cuts i' th' outward skin,
One slit's enough to let adultery in

Beauty no other thing is, than a
Flash'd out between the middle and extreme

Be the mistress of my choice,
Clean in manners, clear in voice;
Be she witty, more than wise,
Pure enough, though not precise;

When I a verse shall make,
Know I have pray'd thee,
For old religion's sake,
Saint Ben to aid me

Dull to myself, and almost dead to
My many fresh and fragrant mistresses;
Lost to all music now, since
Puts on the semblance here of sorrowing

For those my unbaptized rhymes,
Writ in my wild unhallowed times,
For every sentence, clause, and word,
That's not inlaid with Thee, my Lord,

Among thy fancies, tell me this,
What is the thing we call a kiss
I shall resolve ye what it is:—It is a creature born and
Between the lips, all cherry-red,

Bid me to live, and I will live Thy protestant to be;
Or bid me love, and I will give A loving heart to thee
A heart as soft, a heart as kind, A heart as sound and free,
As in the whole world thou canst find, That heart I'll give to...

Ah Ben
Say how, or when Shall we thy guests Meet at those lyric feasts Made at the Sun, The Dog, the Triple Tun
Where we such clusters had As made us nobly wild, not mad; And yet each verse of
Outdid the meat, outdid the frolic wine...

RE a little child I stand Heaving up my either hand;
Cold as paddocks though they be,
Here I lift them up to Thee,
For a benison to fall On our meat and on us all

In sober mornings do thou not
The holy incantation of a verse;
But when that men have both well drunk, and fed,
Let my enchantments then be sung, or read

Get up, get up for shame, the blooming
Upon her wings presents the god unshorn
See how Aurora throws her fair Fresh-quilted colours through the air; Get up, sweet slug-a-bed, and see The dew bespangling herb and tree
Each flower has...

In the hour of my distress,
When temptations me oppress,
And when I my sins confess,
Sweet Spirit, comfort me

Be my mistress short or tall And distorted therewithall Be she likewise one of those That an acre hath of nose Be her teeth ill hung or set And her grinders black as jet Be her cheeks so shallow too As to show her tongue wag through Hath she thin ...