Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden
George Herbert (15931633)Employment
H
My soul would stir
And trade in courtesies and wit;
Quitting the fur
To cold complexions needing it.
Of mortal fire:
Who blows it not, nor doth control
A faint desire,
Lets his own ashes choke his soul.
*****
Oh that I were an orange-tree,
That busy plant!
Then should I ever laden be,
And never want
Some fruit for him that dressèd me.
The man is gone
Before we do our wares unfold;
So we freeze on,
Until the grave increase our cold.