Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

Robert Herrick (1591–1674)

To Primroses Filled with Morning Dew

WHY do ye weep, sweet babes? can tears

Speak grief in you,

Who were but born

Just as the modest morn

Teem’d her refreshing dew?

Alas, you have not known that shower

That mars a flower,

Nor felt th’ unkind

Breath of a blasting wind,

Nor are ye worn with years;

Or warp’d as we,

Who think it strange to see,

Such pretty flowers, like to orphans young,

To speak by tears, before ye have a tongue.

Speak, whimp’ring younglings, and make known

The reason why

Ye droop and weep;

Is it for want of sleep,

Or childish lullaby?

Or that ye have not seen as yet

The violet?

Or brought a kiss

From that Sweet-heart, to this?

—No, no, this sorrow shown

By your tears shed,

Would have this lecture read,

That things of greatest, so of meanest worth,

Conceived with grief are, and with tears brought forth.