A RING PRESENTED TO JULIA.
by Robert Herrick

          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 overslide,
Or be so straight 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.


Close, tight.
Stay, support.

Jan van Eyck. The Arnolfini Marriage, 1434
Jan van Eyck. The Arnolfini Marriage. 1434.
Barewalls.com

Source:
Herrick, Robert. Works of Robert Herrick. vol I.
Alfred Pollard, ed.
London, Lawrence & Bullen, 1891. 78-9.
Backto Works of Robert Herrick

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