PRIDE
ALLOWABLE
IN POETS.
Robert Herrick
525. UPON HER FEET.
Her pretty feet
Like snails did creep
A little out, and then,
As if they played at Bo-Peep,
Did soon draw in again.
526. TO HIS HONOURED FRIEND, SIR JOHN MINCE.
For civil, clean, and circumcised wit,
And for the comely carriage of it,
Thou art the man, the only man best known,
Mark'd for the true wit of a million:
From whom we'll reckon. Wit came in but since
The calculation of thy birth, brave Mince.
527. UPON HIS GREY HAIRS.
Fly me not, though I be grey:
Lady, this I know you'll say;
Better look the roses red
When with white commingled.
Black your hairs are, mine are white;
This begets the more delight,
When things meet most opposite:
As in pictures we descry
Venus standing Vulcan by.
528. ACCUSATION.
If accusation only can draw blood,
None shall be guiltless, be he ne'er so good.
529.
PRIDE ALLOWABLE IN POETS.
As thou deserv'st, be proud; then gladly let
The Muse give thee the Delphic coronet.
530. A VOW TO MINERVA.
Goddess, I begin an art;
Come thou in, with thy best part
For to make the texture lie
Each way smooth and civilly;
And a broad-fac'd owl shall be
Offer'd up with vows to thee.
_Civilly_, orderly.
_Owl_, the bird sacred to Athene or Minerva.
534. TO ELECTRA.
'Tis evening, my sweet,
And dark, let us meet;
Long time w'ave here been a-toying,
And never, as yet,
That season could get
Wherein t'ave had an enjoying.
For pity or shame,
Then let not love's flame
Be ever and ever a-spending;
Since now to the port
The path is but short,
And yet our way has no ending.
Time flies away fast,
Our hours do waste,
The while we never remember
How soon our life, here,
Grows old with the year
That dies with the next December.
535. DISCORD NOT DISADVANTAGEOUS.
Fortune no higher project can devise
Than to sow discord 'mongst the enemies.
536.