T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
An Epithalamy to Sir Thomas Southwell and His Lady
By Robert Herrick (15911674)(From Hesperides, 1648) NOW, now’s the time, so oft by truthI. | |
Promis’d should come to crown your youth. | |
Then, fair ones, do not wrong | |
Your joys by staying long; | |
Or let Love’s fire go out, | 5 |
By lingering thus in doubt; | |
But learn that time once lost | |
Is ne’er redeem’d by cost. | |
Then away; come, Hymen, guide | |
To the bed the bashful bride. | 10 |
II. Is it, sweet maid, your fault these holy | |
Bridal rites go on so slowly? | |
Dear, is it this you dread, | |
The loss of maidenhead? | |
Believe me, you will most | 15 |
Esteem it when ’tis lost; | |
Then it no longer keep, | |
Lest issue lie asleep. | |
Then, away; come, Hymen, guide | |
To the bed the bashful bride. | 20 |
III. There precious, pearly, purling tears | |
But spring from ceremonious fears. | |
And ’tis but native shame | |
That hides the loving flame, | |
And may a while control | 25 |
The soft and am’rous soul; | |
But yet, Love’s fire will waste | |
Such bashfulness at last. | |
Then, away; come, Hymen, guide | |
To the bed the bashful bride. | 30 |
IV. Night now hath watch’d herself half blind, | |
Yet not a maidenhead resign’d! | |
’Tis strange, ye will not fly | |
To Love’s sweet mystery. | |
Might yon full moon the sweets | 35 |
Have, promis’d to your sheets, | |
She soon would leave her sphere, | |
To be admitted there. | |
Then, away; come, Hymen, guide | |
To the bed the bashful bride. | 40 |
V. On, on devoutly, make no stay: | |
While Domiduca leads the way: | |
And Genius, who attends | |
The bed for lucky ends: | |
With Juno goes the hours | 45 |
And Graces strewing flowers. | |
And the boys with sweet tunes sing: | |
Hymen! O Hymen! bring | |
Home the turtles; Hymen, guide | |
To the bed the bashful bride. | 50 |
VI. Behold! how Hymen’s taper-light | |
Shows you how much is spent of night. | |
See, see the bridegroom’s torch | |
Half wasted in the porch. | |
And now those tapers five, | 55 |
That show the womb shall thrive, | |
Their silv’ry flames advance, | |
To tell all prosp’rous chance | |
Still shall crown the happy life | |
Of the good man and the wife. | 60 |
VII. Move forward then your rosy feet, | |
And make what ere they touch, turn sweet. | |
May all, like flow’ry meads, | |
Smell, where your soft foot treads; | |
And every thing assume | 65 |
To it, the like perfume, | |
As Zephyrus when he ’spires | |
Through woodbine and sweetbriars. | |
Then, away; come, Hymen, guide | |
To the bed the bashful bride. | 70 |
VIII. And now the yellow veil at last | |
Over her fragrant cheek is cast. | |
Now seems she to express | |
A bashful willingness: | |
Showing a heart consenting, | 75 |
As with a will repenting. | |
Then gently lead her on | |
With wise suspicion; | |
For that, matrons say, a measure | |
Of that passion sweetens pleasure. | 80 |
IX. You, you that be of her nearest kin, | |
Now o’er the threshold force her in. | |
But to avert the worst | |
Let her, her fillets first | |
Knit to the posts: this point | 85 |
Remembering, to anoint | |
The sides: for ’tis a charm | |
Strong against future harm; | |
And the evil deeds, the which | |
There was hidden by the witch. | 90 |
X. O Venus! thou to whom is known | |
The best way how to loose the zone | |
Of virgins! tell the maid | |
She need not be afraid, | |
And bid the youth apply | 95 |
Close kisses if she cry: | |
And charge, he not forbears | |
Her, though she woo with tears. | |
Tell them now they must adventure, | |
Since that Love and Night bid enter. | 100 |
XI. No fatal owl the bedstead keeps, | |
With direful notes to fright your sleeps; | |
No furies here about | |
To put the tapers out, | |
Watch or did make the bed: | 105 |
’Tis omen full of dread; | |
But all fair signs appear | |
Within the chamber here. | |
Juno here far off doth stand, | |
Cooing sleep with charming wand. | 110 |
XII. Virgins, weep not; ’twill come when, | |
As she, so you’ll be ripe for men. | |
Then grieve her not with saying | |
She must no more a Maying, | |
Or by rosebuds divine | 115 |
Who’ll be her Valentine. | |
Nor name those wanton reaks | |
You’ve had at barley-breaks, | |
But now kiss her and thus say, | |
“Take time, lady, while ye may.” | 120 |
XIII. Now bar the doors; the bridegroom puts | |
The eager boys to gather nuts. | |
And now, both Love and Time | |
To their full height do climb: | |
Oh! give them active heat | 125 |
And moisture both complete: | |
Fit organs for increase, | |
To keep and to release | |
That which may the honour’d stem | |
Circle with a diadem. | 130 |
XIV. And now, behold! the bed or couch | |
That ne’er knew bride’s or bridegroom’s touch, | |
Feels in itself a fire; | |
And, tickled with desire, | |
Pants with a downy breast, | 135 |
As with a heart possesst, | |
Shrugging as it did move | |
Even with the soul of love. | |
And, oh! had it but a tongue, | |
Doves, ’t would say, ye bill too long. | 140 |
XV. O enter then! but see ye shun | |
A sleep, until the act be done. | |
Let kisses in their close | |
Breathe as the damask rose, | |
Or sweet as is that gum | 145 |
Doth from Panchaia come. | |
Teach nature now to know | |
Lips can make cherries grow | |
Sooner than she ever yet | |
In her wisdom could beget. | 150 |
XVI. On your minutes, hours, days, months, years, | |
Drop the fat blessing of the spheres. | |
That good which Heav’n can give | |
To make you bravely live | |
Fall like a spangling dew | 155 |
By day and night on you. | |
May Fortune’s lily-hand | |
Open at your command; | |
With all lucky birds to side | |
With the bridegroom and the bride. | 160 |
XVII. Let bounteous Fate your spindles full | |
Fill, and wind up with whitest wool. | |
Let them not cut the thread | |
Of life until ye bid. | |
May death yet come at last, | 165 |
And not with desp’rate haste, | |
But when ye both can say, | |
“Come, let us now away.” | |
Be ye to the barn then borne, | |
Two, like two ripe shocks of corn. | 170 |