Classic Poem

ROBERT HERRICK

INCLUDES IT IN ONE OF HIS “PIOUS PIECES”
?Fuscus, dear friend,
?I prithee lend
An ear for but a space,
?And thou shalt see
?How Love may be
A more than saving grace.
?As on a day
?I chanced to stray
Beyond my own confines
?Singing, perdie,
?Of Lalage
Whose smile no star outshines—
?So 'tranced were all
?That heard me call
On Love, that (from a grot)
?A wolf who heard
?That tender word,
Listened and harmed me not.
?Thus shielded by
?The magicry
Of Love that kept me pure,
?I live to praise
?Her wondrous ways
Where'er I may endure.
?There's but one plan:
?The honest man
Wears Vertue's charmèd spell;
?And free from vice,
?That man lives twice
Who lives the one life well.