George Herbert



LIFE.

I MADE a posie while the day ran by :
Here will I smell my remnant out, and tie
                             My life within this band.
But Time did becken to the flowers, and they
By noon most cunningly did steal away,
                             And wither'd in my hand.

My hand was next to them, and then my heart ;
I took, without more thinking, in good part
                             Time's gentle admonition ;
Who did so sweetly death's sad taste convey,
Making my minde to smell my fatall day,
                             Yet sugring the suspicion.

Farewell, dear flowers, sweetly your time ye spent,
Fit, while ye lived, for smell or ornament,
                             And after death for cures.
I follow straight without complaints or grief,
Since if my scent be good, I care not, if
                             It be as short as yours. 		  Engraving



Source:
The Poetical Works of George Herbert and Reginald Heber.
Edinburgh: Gall & Inglis, nd. 78.


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