Robert Herrick. His Sailing From Julia.

Robert Herrick

HIS SAILING FROM JULIA.

WHEN that day comes, whose evening says I'm gone
Unto that watery desolation,
Devoutly to thy closet-gods then pray
That my wing'd ship may meet no remora.
Those deities which circum-walk the seas,
And look upon our dreadful passages,
Will from all dangers re-deliver me
For one drink-offering poured out by thee.
Mercy and truth live with thee ! and forbear
(In my short absence) to unsluice a tear ;
But yet for love's sake let thy lips do this,
Give my dead picture one engendering kiss :
Work that to life, and let me ever dwell
In thy remembrance, Julia. So farewell.

Closet-gods, the Roman Lares.
Remora, the sea Lamprey or suckstone, believed to
check the course of ships by clinging to their keels.

A Dutch Man-of-War and Various Vessels
in a Breeze. [det.] Simon de Vlieger, c.1642.
National Gallery, London.

Source:
Herrick, Robert. Works of Robert Herrick. vol I.
Alfred Pollard, ed.
London, Lawrence & Bullen, 1891. 15.

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