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Home  »  The English Poets  »  To the Duke of York

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

Robert Herrick (1591–1674)

To the Duke of York

MAY his pretty Duke-ship grow

Like to a rose of Jericho,

Sweeter far than ever yet

Showers or sunshine could beget;

May the Graces and the Hours

Strew his hopes and him with flowers

And so dress him up with love

As to be the chick of Jove;

May the thrice three Sisters sing

Him the sovereign of their spring,

And entitle none to be

Prince of Helicon but he;

May his soft foot, where it treads,

Gardens thence produce and meads,

And those meadows full be set

With the rose and violet;

May his ample name be known

To the last succession,

And his actions high be told

Through the world, but writ in gold.