Come, sit we under yonder tree, <br />Where merry as the maids we'll be; <br />And as on primroses we sit, <br />We'll venture, if we can, at wit; <br />If not, at draw-gloves we will play, <br />So spend some minutes of the day; <br />Or else spin out the thread of sands, <br />Playing at questions and commands: <br />Or tell what strange tricks Love can do, <br />By quickly making one of two. <br />Thus we will sit and talk, but tell <br />No cruel truths of Philomel, <br />Or Phillis, whom hard fate forced on <br />To kill herself for Demophon; <br />But fables we'll relate; how Jove <br />Put on all shapes to get a Love; <br />As now a satyr, then a swan, <br />A bull but then, and now a man. <br />Next, we will act how young men woo, <br />And sigh and kiss as lovers do; <br />And talk of brides; and who shall make <br />That wedding-smock, this bridal-cake, <br />That dress, this sprig, that leaf, this vine, <br />That smooth and silken columbine. <br />This done, we'll draw lots who shall buy <br />And gild the bays and rosemary; <br />What posies for our wedding rings; <br />What gloves we'll give, and ribbonings; <br />And smiling at our selves, decree <br />Who then the joining priest shall be; <br />What short sweet prayers shall be said, <br />And how the posset shall be made <br />With cream of lilies, not of kine, <br />And maiden's-blush for spiced wine. <br />Thus having talk'd, we'll next commend <br />A kiss to each, and so we'll end.<br /><br />Robert Herrick<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-the-maids-to-walk-abroad/
