Robert Herrick. An Eclogue or Pastoral Between Endymion Porter and Lycidas Herrick, Set and Sung.

Robert Herrick

AN ECLOGUE OR PASTORAL BETWEEN ENDYMION
PORTER AND LYCIDAS HERRICK,
SET AND SUNG.

    End.  AH !  Lycidas, come tell me why
                 Thy whilom merry oat
              By thee doth so neglected lie,
                 And never purls a note ?

              I prithee speak.  Lyc. I will.  End. Say on.
    Lyc.       'Tis thou, and only thou,
              That art the cause, Endymion.
    End.      For Love's sake, tell me how.
    Lyc.   In this regard :  that thou do'st play
                 Upon another plain,
              And for a rural roundelay
                 Strik'st now a courtly strain.

              Thou leav'st our hills, our dales, our bowers,
                 Our finer fleeced sheep,
              Unkind to us, to spend thine hours
                 Where shepherds should not keep.

              I mean the court :  let Latmos be
                 My lov'd Endymion's court.
    End.  But I the courtly state would see,
    Lyc.      Then see it in report.

              What has the court to do with swains,
                 Where Phyllis is not known ?
              Nor does it mind the rustic strains
                 Of us, or Corydon.

              Break, if thou lov'st us, this delay.
    End.      Dear Lycidas, e're long
              I vow, by Pan, to come away
                 And pipe unto thy song.

              Then Jessamine, with Florabell,
                 And dainty Amaryllis,
              With handsome-handed Drosomell
                 Shall prank thy hook with lilies.

    Lyc.   Then Tityrus, and Corydon,
                 And Thyrsis, they shall follow
              With all the rest ;  while thou alone
                 Shalt lead like young Apollo.

              And till thou com'st, thy Lycidas,
                 In every genial cup,
             Shall write in spice :  Endymion 'twas
                 That kept his piping up.

And, my most lucky swain, when I shall live to see
Endymion's moon to fill up full, remember me :
Meantime, let Lycidas have leave to pipe to thee.

Oat, oaten pipe.
Purls, murmurs.
Prank, bedeck.
Drosomell, honey dew.

Source:
Herrick, Robert. Works of Robert Herrick. vol I.
Alfred Pollard, ed.
London, Lawrence & Bullen, 1891. 229-231.

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