A Bucolic Betwixt Two: Lacon & Thyrsis

LACON. For a kiss or two, confess,

What doth cause this pensiveness,

Thou most lovely neat-herdess?

Why so lonely on the hill?

Why thy pipe by thee so still,

That erewhile was heard so shrill?

Tell me, do thy kine now fail

To fulfil the milking-pail?

Say, what is't that thou dost ail?

THYR. None of these; but out, alas!

A mischance is come to pass,

And I'll tell thee what it was:

See, mine eyes are weeping ripe.

LACON. Tell, and I'll lay down my pipe.

THYR. I have lost my lovely steer,

That to me was far more dear

Than these kine which I milk here;

Broad of forehead, large of eye,

Party-colour'd like a pye,

Smooth in each limb as a die;

Clear of hoof, and clear of horn,

Sharply pointed as a thorn;

With a neck by yoke unworn,

From the which hung down by strings,

Balls of cowslips, daisy rings,

Interplaced with ribbonings;

Faultless every way for shape;

Not a straw could him escape,

Ever gamesome as an ape,

But yet harmless as a sheep.

Pardon, Lacon, if I weep;

Tears will spring where woes are deep.

Now, ai me! ai me! Last night

Came a mad dog, and did bite,

Ay, and kill'd my dear delight.

LACON Alack, for grief!

THYR. But I'll be brief.

Hence I must, for time doth call

Me, and my sad playmates all,

To his evening funeral.

Live long, Lacon; so adieu!

LACON Mournful maid, farewell to you;

Earth afford ye flowers to strew!

Robert Herrick

Robert Herrick, (baptized August 24, 1591, London, England—died October 1674, Dean Prior, Devonshire), English cleric and poet, the most original of the “sons of Ben [Jonson],” who revived the spirit of the ancient classic lyric. He is best remembered for the line “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,” and he is counted among the Cavalier poets. However, having refused to subscribe to The Solemn League and Covenant, he was ejected from Devonshire in 1647. He then returned to London publishing his religious poems Noble Numbers (1647), and Hesperides (1648). He was distinguished as a lyric poet, and some of his love songs, for example, 'To Anthea' and 'Gather Ye Rose-buds' are considered exceptional . In 1660 he was reinstated at Dean Prior where he lived for the remainder of his life. He wrote no more poems after 1648, he died in 1674 and was buried in an unmarked grave in the churchyard at Dean Prior.

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A Bucolic Betwixt Two: Lacon & Thyrsis

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