A Selection from the Lyrical Poems of Robert Herrick

43. THE MAD MAID'S SONG

     Good morrow to the day so fair;
     Good morning, sir, to you;
     Good morrow to mine own torn hair,
     Bedabbled with the dew.

     Good morning to this primrose too;
     Good morrow to each maid;
     That will with flowers the tomb bestrew
     Wherein my Love is laid.

     Ah!  woe is me, woe, woe is me,
     Alack and well-a-day!
     For pity, sir, find out that bee,
     Which bore my Love away.

     I'll seek him in your bonnet brave;
     I'll seek him in your eyes;
     Nay, now I think they've made his grave
     I' th' bed of strawberries.

     I'll seek him there; I know, ere this,
     The cold, cold earth doth shake him;
     But I will go, or send a kiss
     By you, sir, to awake him.

     Pray hurt him not; though he be dead,
     He knows well who do love him;
     And who with green turfs rear his head,
     And who do rudely move him.

     He's soft and tender, pray take heed,
     With bands of cowslips bind him,
     And bring him home;—but 'tis decreed
     That I shall never find him.