A Selection from the Lyrical Poems of Robert Herrick

134. CRUTCHES

     Thou see'st me, Lucia, this year droop;
     Three zodiacs fill'd more, I shall stoop;
     Let crutches then provided be
     To shore up my debility:
     Then, while thou laugh'st, I'll sighing cry,
     A ruin underpropt am I:
     Don will I then my beadsman's gown;
     And when so feeble I am grown
     As my weak shoulders cannot bear
     The burden of a grasshopper;
     Yet with the bench of aged sires,
     When I and they keep termly fires,
     With my weak voice I'll sing, or say
     Some odes I made of Lucia;—
     Then will I heave my wither'd hand
     To Jove the mighty, for to stand
     Thy faithful friend, and to pour down
     Upon thee many a benison.