Robert Herrick. Crutches.

CRUTCHES.
by Robert Herrick

THOU see'st me, Lucia, this year droop ;
Three zodiacs filled more, I shall stoop ;
Let crutches then provided be
To shore up my debility.
Then, while thou laugh'st, I'll sighing cry,
" A ruin, underpropp'd, am I ".
Don will I then my beadsman's gown,
And when so feeble I am grown,
As my weak shoulders cannot bear
The burden of a grasshopper,
Yet with the bench of aged sires,
When I and they keep termly fires,
With my weak voice I'll sing, or say,
Some odes I made of Lucia :
Then will I heave my wither'd hand
To Jove the mighty, for to stand
Thy faithful friend, and to pour down
Upon thee many a benison.

Zodiacs, used as symbols of the astronomical year.
Beadsman's, almshouseman's.
Heave, raise aloft.

Source:
Herrick, Robert. Works of Robert Herrick. vol II.
Alfred Pollard, ed.
London, Lawrence & Bullen, 1891. 126-127.

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