Robert Herrick. A Hymn to the Graces.

Robert Herrick

A HYMN TO THE GRACES.

WHEN I love (as some have told,
Love I shall when I am old),
O ye Graces ! make me fit
For the welcoming of it.
Clean my rooms, as temples be,
T' entertain that deity.
Give me words wherewith to woo,
Suppling and successful too ;
Winning postures, and, withal,
Manners each way musical :
Sweetness to allay my sour
And unsmooth behaviour.
For I know you have the skill
Vines to prune, though not to kill,
And of any wood ye see,
You can make a Mercury.

Raphael. The Three Graces, ca.1503/04.
Musée Condé, Chantilly.

Source:
Herrick, Robert. Works of Robert Herrick. vol II.
Alfred Pollard, ed.
London, Lawrence & Bullen, 1891. 1.

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