A Selection from the Lyrical Poems of Robert Herrick

202. TO MEADOWS

     Ye have been fresh and green,
     Ye have been fill'd with flowers;
     And ye the walks have been
     Where maids have spent their hours.

     You have beheld how they
     With wicker arks did come,
     To kiss and bear away
     The richer cowslips home.

     You've heard them sweetly sing,
     And seen them in a round;
     Each virgin, like a spring,
     With honeysuckles crown'd.

     But now, we see none here,
     Whose silvery feet did tread
     And with dishevell'd hair
     Adorn'd this smoother mead.

     Like unthrifts, having spent
     Your stock, and needy grown
     You're left here to lament
     Your poor estates alone.