A Selection from the Lyrical Poems of Robert Herrick

188. TO THE ROSE: SONG

     Go, happy Rose, and interwove
     With other flowers, bind my Love.
     Tell her, too, she must not be
     Longer flowing, longer free,
     That so oft has fetter'd me.

     Say, if she's fretful, I have bands
     Of pearl and gold, to bind her hands;
     Tell her, if she struggle still,
     I have myrtle rods at will,
     For to tame, though not to kill.

     Take thou my blessing thus, and go
     And tell her this,—but do not so!—
     Lest a handsome anger fly
     Like a lightning from her eye,
     And burn thee up, as well as I!