Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, UPON THE DEATH OF HIS SPARROW; AN ELEGIE, by ROBERT HERRICK



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UPON THE DEATH OF HIS SPARROW; AN ELEGIE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Why doe not all fresh maids appeare
Last Line: Not virgil's gnat had such a tomb.
Subject(s): Sparrows


Why doe not all fresh maids appeare
To work Love's Sampler onely here,
Where spring-time smiles throughout the yeare?
Are not here Rose-buds, Pinks, all flowers,
Nature begets by th' Sun and showers,
Met in one Hearce-cloth, to ore-spred
The body of the under-dead?
Phill, the late dead, the late dead Deare,
O! may no eye distill a Teare
For you once lost, who weep not here!
Had Lesbia (too-too-kind) but known
This Sparrow, she had scorn'd her own:
And for this dead which under-lies,
Wept out her heart, as well as eyes.
But endlesse Peace, sit here, and keep
My Phill, the time he has to sleep,
And thousand Virgins come and weep,
To make these flowrie Carpets show
Fresh, as their blood; and ever grow,
Till passengers shall spend their doome,
Not Virgil's Gnat had such a Tomb.





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