T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.

Upon Julia’s Fall

By Robert Herrick (1591–1674)

(Songs from Hesperides, 1648)

JULIA was careless, and withal
She rather took than got a fall;
The wanton ambler chanc’d to see
Part of her legs’ sincerity:
And ravish’d thus, it came to pass,	5
The nag (like to the prophet’s ass)
Began to speak, and would have been
A-telling what rare sights he’d seen:
And had told all; but did refrain
Because his tongue was tied again.	10