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Home  »  Parnassus  »  Robert Herrick (1591–1674)

Ralph Waldo Emerson, comp. (1803–1882). Parnassus: An Anthology of Poetry. 1880.

Lachrimæ; or, Mirth turned to Mourning

Robert Herrick (1591–1674)

CALL me no more,

As heretofore,

The music of a feast;

Since now, alas,

The mirth that was

In me, is dead or ceast.

Before I went

To banishment

Into the loathèd west,

I could rehearse

A lyric verse,

And speak it with the best.

But time, ay me!

Has laid, I see,

My organ fast asleep;

And turned my voice

Into the noise

Of those that sit and weep.