Love
Julia's Churching, or Purification.
From Hesperides (1648)
PUt on thy Holy Fillitings, and so
To th' Temple with the sober Midwife go.
Attended thus (in a most solemn wise)
By those who serve the Child-bed misteries.
Burn first thine incense; next, when as thou see'st
The candid Stole thrown ore the Pious Priest;
With reverend Curtsies come, and to him bring
Thy free (and not decurted) offering.
All Rites well ended, with faire Auspice come
(As to the breaking of a Bride-Cake) home:
Where ceremonious Hymen shall for thee
Provide a second Epithalamie.
She who keeps chastly to her husbands side
Is not for one, but every night his Bride:
And stealing still with love, and feare to Bed,
Brings him not one, but many a Maiden-head.
Cite this poem
MLA
Herrick, Robert. “Julia's Churching, or Purification.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/herrick/907/.
Chicago
Herrick, Robert. “Julia's Churching, or Purification.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/herrick/907/.
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