ROBERT HERRICK

322         To the reverend shade of his religious Father

That for seven Lusters I did never come

To doe the Rites to thy Religious Tombe:

That neither haire was cut, or true teares shed

By me, o’r thee, (as justments to the dead)

5                Forgive, forgive me; since I did not know

Whether thy bones had here their Rest, or no.

But now ’tis known, Behold; behold, I bring

Unto thy Ghost, th’Effused Offering:

And look, what Smallage, Night-shade, Cypresse, Yew,

10              Unto the shades have been, or now are due,

Here I devote; And something more then so;

I come to pay a Debt of Birth I owe.

Thou gav’st me life, (but Mortall;) For that one

Favour, Ile make full satisfaction;

15              For my life mortall, Rise from out thy Herse,

And take a life immortall from my Verse.