Robert Herrick. The Peter-penny.

THE PETER-PENNY.
by Robert Herrick

    FRESH strewings allow
    To my sepulchre now,
To make my lodging the sweeter ;
    A staff or a wand
    Put then in my hand,
With a penny to pay S. Peter.

    Who has not a cross
    Must sit with the loss,
And no whit further must venture ;
    Since the porter he
    Will paid have his fee,
Or else not one there must enter.

    Who at a dead lift
    Can't send for a gift
A pig to the priest for a roaster,
    Shall hear his clerk say,
    By yea and by nay,
No penny, no paternoster.

S. Peter, as the gate-ward of heaven.   Cross, a coin.

Source:
Herrick, Robert. Works of Robert Herrick. vol II.
Alfred Pollard, ed.
London, Lawrence & Bullen, 1891. 69.

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