Robert Herrick. 1591-1674
254. The Primrose
1 min to read
77 words

ASK me why I send you here This sweet Infanta of the year? Ask me why I send to you This primrose, thus bepearl'd with dew? I will whisper to your ears:— The sweets of love are mix'd with tears.

Ask me why this flower does show So yellow-green, and sickly too? Ask me why the stalk is weak And bending (yet it doth not break)? I will answer:—These discover What fainting hopes are in a lover.

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Robert Herrick. 1591-1674
255. The Funeral Rites of the Rose
1 min to read
110 words
Return to The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250–1900






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