Robert Herrick. To the Fever, Not to Trouble Julia.

Robert Herrick

TO THE FEVER, NOT TO TROUBLE JULIA.

TH'AST dar'd too far ; but, fury, now forbear
To give the least disturbance to her hair :
But less presume to play a plait upon
Her skin's most smooth and clear expansion.
'Tis like a lawny firmament as yet,
Quite dispossess'd of either fray or fret.
Come thou not near that film so finely spread,
Where no one piece is yet unlevelled.
This if thou dost, woe to thee, fury, woe,
I'll send such frost, such hail, such sleet, and snow,
Such fears, quakes, palsies, and such heats as shall
Dead thee to th' most, if not destroy thee all.
And thou a thousand thousand times shalt be
More shak'd thyself than she is scorched by thee.

Domenico Feti. Sleeping Girl, c. 1615.
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest.

Source:
Herrick, Robert. Works of Robert Herrick. vol I.
Alfred Pollard, ed.
London, Lawrence & Bullen, 1891. 100-101.

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