Love
What kind of Mistresse he would have.
From Hesperides (1648)
BE the Mistresse of my choice,
Cleane in manners, cleere in voice:
Be she witty, more then wise;
Pure enough, though not Precise:
Be she shewing in her dresse,
Like a civill Wilderness;
That the curious may detect
Order in a sweet neglect:
Be she rowling in her eye,
Tempting all the pasers by:
And each Ringlet of her haire,
An Enchantment, or a Snare,
For to catch the Lookers on;
But her self held fast by none.
Let her Lucrece all day be,
Thais in the night, to me.
Be she such, as neither will
Famish me, nor over-fill.
Cite this poem
MLA
Herrick, Robert. “What kind of Mistresse he would have.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/herrick/674/.
Chicago
Herrick, Robert. “What kind of Mistresse he would have.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/herrick/674/.
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