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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A RING PRESENTED TO JULIA by ROBERT HERRICK

Poet Analysis

First Line: JULIA, I BRING
Last Line: AND PURE AS GOLD FOR EVER.
Subject(s): JEWELRY & JEWELERS; RINGS; BRACELETS; NECKLACES;

JULIA, I bring
To thee this ring,
Made for thy finger fit;
To show by this,
That our love is,
Or should be, like to it.

Close though it be,
The joint is free:
So when Love's yoke is on,
It must not gall,
Or fret at all
With hard oppression.

But it must play
Still either way,
And be, too, such a yoke,
As not too wide,
To over-slide;
Or be so strait to choke.

So we, who bear
This beam, must rear
Ourselves to such a height:
As that the stay
Of either may
Create the burden light.

And as this round
Is nowhere found
To flaw, or else to sever:
So let our love
As endless prove,
And pure as gold for ever.



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