Come then, and be to my chaste side Both bed and bride.
We two, as reliques left, will have One rest, one grave;
And, hugging close, we need not fear Lust entering here, Where all desires are dead or cold, As is the mould;
And all affections are forgot, Or trouble not.
Here, here the slaves and prisoners be From shackles free;
And weeping widows, long opprest, Do here find rest.
The wronged client ends his laws Here, and his cause;
Here those long suits of Chancery lie Quiet, or die;
And all Star-chamber bills do cease, Or hold their peace.
Here needs no court for our Request Where all are best;
All wise, all equal, and all just Alike i'th' dust.
Nor need we here to fear the frown Of court or crown;
Where fortune bears no sway o'er things, There all are kings.
In this securer place we'll keep, As lull'd asleep;
Or for a little time we'll lie, As robes laid by, To be another day re-worn, Turn'd, but not torn;
Or like old testaments engrost, Lock'd up, not lost;
And for a-while lie here conceal'd, To be reveal'd Next, at that great Platonic year, And then meet here.
*71*
ANACREONTIC
Born I was to be old, And for to die here;
After that, in the mould Long for to lie here.
But before that day comes, Still I be bousing;
For I know, in the tombs There's no carousing.
*72*
TO LAURELS
A funeral stone Or verse, I covet none;
But only crave Of you that I may have A sacred laurel springing from my grave:
Which being seen Blest with perpetual green, May grow to be Not so much call'd a tree, As the eternal monument of me.
*73*
ON HIMSELF
Weep for the dead, for they have lost this light;
And weep for me, lost in an endless night;
Or mourn, or make a marble verse for me, Who writ for many. BENEDICTE.
*74*
ON HIMSELF
Lost to the world; lost to myself; alone Here now I rest under this marble stone, In depth of silence, heard and seen of none.
*75*
TO ROBIN RED-BREAST
Laid out for dead, let thy last kindness be With leaves and moss-work for to cover me;
And while the wood-nymphs my cold corpse inter, Sing thou my dirge, sweet-warbling chorister!
For epitaph, in foliage, next write this:
HERE, HERE THE TOMB OF ROBIN HERRICK IS!
*76*
THE OLIVE BRANCH
Sadly I walk'd within the field, To see what comfort it would yield;
And as I went my private way, An olive-branch before me lay;
And seeing it, I made a stay, And took it up, and view'd it; then Kissing the omen, said Amen;
Be, be it so, and let this be A divination unto me;
That in short time my woes shall cease, And love shall crown my end with peace.
*77*
THE PLAUDITE, OR END OF LIFE
If after rude and boisterous seas My wearied pinnace here finds ease;
If so it be I've gain'd the shore, With safety of a faithful oar;
If having run my barque on ground, Ye see the aged vessel crown'd;
What's to be done? but on the sands Ye dance and sing, and now clap hands.
--The first act's doubtful, but (we say)
It is the last commends the Play.
*
AMORES
*78*
TO GROVES
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:--
Here is the legend of those saints That died for love, and their complaints;
Their wounded hearts, and names we find Encarved upon the leaves and rind.
Give way, give way to me, who come Scorch'd with the self-same martyrdom!
And have deserved as much, Love knows, As to be canonized 'mongst those Whose deeds and deaths here written are Within your Greeny-kalendar.
--By all those virgins' fillets hung Upon! your boughs, and requiems sung For saints and souls departed hence, Here honour'd still with frankincense;
By all those tears that have been shed, As a drink-offering to the dead;
By all those true-love knots, that be With mottoes carved on every tree;
By sweet Saint Phillis! pity me;
By dear Saint Iphis! and the rest Of all those other saints now blest, Me, me forsaken,--here admit Among your myrtles to be writ;
That my poor name may have the glory To live remember'd in your story.
