Poem by Robert Herrick

The Funeral Rites of the Rose

The Rose was sick, and smiling died;
And, being to be sanctified,
About the bed, there sighing stood
The sweet and flowery sisterhood.
Some hung the head, while some did bring,
To wash her, water from the spring;
Some laid her forth, while others wept,
But all a solemn fast there kept.
The holy sisters some among,
The sacred dirge and trental sung;
But ah!  what sweets smelt everywhere,
As heaven had spent all perfumes there!
At last, when prayers for the dead,
And rites, were all accomplished,
They, weeping, spread a lawny loom,
And closed her up as in a tomb.

1. I Call and I Call
2. Loss from the Least
3. Upon the Detracter
4. The Succession of the Four Sweet Months
5. Love, What It Is

Print

1657 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version