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.


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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