An Ode Of The Birth Of Our Saviour

In numbers, and but these few,

I sing thy birth, oh JESU!

Thou pretty Baby, born here,

With sup'rabundant scorn here;

Who for thy princely port here,

Hadst for thy place

Of birth, a base

Out-stable for thy court here.

Instead of neat enclosures

Of interwoven osiers;

Instead of fragrant posies

Of daffadils and roses,

Thy cradle, kingly stranger,

As gospel tells,

Was nothing else,

But, here, a homely manger.

But we with silks, not cruels,

With sundry precious jewels,

And lily-work will dress thee;

And as we dispossess thee

Of clo}ts, we'll make a chamber,

Sweet babe, for thee,

Of ivory,

And plaster'd round with amber.

The Jews, they did disdain thee;

But we will entertain thee

With glories to await here,

Upon thy princely state here,

And more for love than pity:

From year to year

We'll make thee, here,

A free-born of our city.

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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An Ode Of The Birth Of Our Saviour

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