"To the Virgins, to make much of Time"
author: Robert Herrick
source date: 1648
language: en
availability: Published by Literature in Context under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

HESPERIDES: OR, THE WORKS BOTH HUMANE & DIVINE.

OF
Robert Herrick Esq.

OVID. Effugient avidos Carmina nostra Rogos.

LONDON. Printed for John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho: Hunt, Book-seller in Exon. 1648.

To the Virgins, to make much of Time.

Gather ye Rose-buds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today,
To morrow will be dying.

The glorious Lamp of Heaven, the Sun,
The higher he’s a-getting;
The sooner will his Race be run,
And nearer he’s to Setting.

That Age is best, which is the first,
When Youth and Blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times, still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time;
And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime,
You may forever tarry.