Robert Herrick. Upon Love. (VIII)

UPON LOVE. (VIII)
by Robert Herrick

LOVE brought me to a silent grove
    And show'd me there a tree,
Where some had hang'd themselves for love,
    And gave a twist to me.

The halter was of silk and gold,
    That he reach'd forth unto me;
No otherwise than if he would
    By dainty things undo me.

He bade me then that necklace use;
    And told me, too, he maketh
A glorious end by such a noose,
    His Death for love that taketh.

‘Twas but a dream; but had I been
    There really alone,
My desp'rate fears in love had seen
    Mine execution.

Correggio. Danae, [Detail] 1531.
Galleria Borghese, Rome.

Source:
Herrick, Robert. Works of Robert Herrick. vol II.
Alfred Pollard, ed.
London, Lawrence & Bullen, 1891. 97.

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