A Selection from the Lyrical Poems of Robert Herrick

51. HIS RETURN TO LONDON

     From the dull confines of the drooping west,
     To see the day spring from the pregnant east,
     Ravish'd in spirit, I come, nay more, I fly
     To thee, blest place of my nativity!
     Thus, thus with hallow'd foot I touch the ground,
     With thousand blessings by thy fortune crown'd.
     O fruitful Genius!  that bestowest here
     An everlasting plenty year by year;
     O place!  O people!  manners!  framed to please
     All nations, customs, kindreds, languages!
     I am a free-born Roman; suffer then
     That I amongst you live a citizen.
     London my home is; though by hard fate sent
     Into a long and irksome banishment;
     Yet since call'd back, henceforward let me be,
     O native country, repossess'd by thee!
     For, rather than I'll to the west return,
     I'll beg of thee first here to have mine urn.
     Weak I am grown, and must in short time fall;
     Give thou my sacred reliques burial.