His Winding-sheet
Robert Herrick
Come thou, who are the wine and wit
Of all I’ve writ:
The grace, the glory, and the best
Piece of the rest.
Thou art of what I did intend
The all and end;
And what was made, was made to meet
Thee, thee, my sheet.
Come then and be to my chaste side
Both bed and bride:
We two, as reliques left, will have
Once rest, one grave:
And hugging close, we will not fear
Lust entering here:
Where all desires are dead and 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 oppress’d
Do here find rest.
The wrongèd 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 engross’d,
Lock’d up, not lost.
And for a while lie here conceal’d,
To be reveal’d
Next at the great Platonick year,
And then meet here.
