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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  258. Delight in Disorder

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

Robert Herrick. 1591–1674

258. Delight in Disorder

A SWEET disorder in the dress 
Kindles in clothes a wantonness: 
A lawn about the shoulders thrown 
Into a fine distraction: 
An erring lace, which here and there         5
Enthrals the crimson stomacher: 
A cuff neglectful, and thereby 
Ribbands to flow confusedly: 
A winning wave, deserving note, 
In the tempestuous petticoat:  10
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie 
I see a wild civility: 
Do more bewitch me than when art 
Is too precise in every part.