- GET up, get up for shame! The blooming morn
- Upon her wings presents the god unshorn.
- See how Aurora throws her fair
- Fresh-quilted colors through the air.
- Get up, sweet slug-a-bed, and see
- The dew bespangling herb and tree!
- Each flower has wept and bowed toward the east
- Above an hour since, yet you not drest;
- Nay! not so much as out of bed?
- When all the birds have matins said
- And sung their thankful hymns, 'tis sin,
- Nay, profanation, to keep in,
- Whenas a thousand virgins on this day
- Spring sooner than the lark, to fetch in May.
- Rise and put on your foliage, and be seen
- To come forth, like the springtime, fresh and green,
- And sweet as Flora. Take no care
- For jewels for your gown or hair.
- Fear not; the leaves will strew
- Gems in abundance upon you.
- Besides, the childhood of the day has kept
- Against you come, some orient pearls unwept.
- Come, and receive them while the light
- Hangs on the dew-locks of the night;
- And Titan on the eastern hill
- Retires himself, or else stands still
- Till you come forth! Wash, dress, be brief in praying;
- Few beads are best when once we go a-Maying.
- Come, my Corinna, come; and coming, mark
- How each field turns a street, each street a park,
- Made green and trimmed with trees! see how
- Devotion gives each house a bough
- Or branch! each porch, each door, ere this,
- An ark, a tabernacle is,
- Made up of whitethorn neatly interwove,
- As if here were those cooler shades of love.
- Can such delights be in the street
- And open fields, and we not see't?
- Come, we'll abroad; and let's obey
- The proclamation made for May,
- And sin no more, as we have done, by staying;
- But, my Corinna, come, let's go a-Maying.
- There's not a budding boy or girl this day
- But is got up and gone to bring in May.
- A deal of youth ere this is come
- Back, and with white-thorn laden home.
- Some have dispatched their cakes and cream,
- Before that we have left to dream;
- And some have wept and wooed, and plighted troth,
- And chose their priest, ere we can cast off sloth.
- Many a green-gown has been given,
- Many a kiss, both odd and even;
- Many a glance, too, has been sent
- From out of the eye, love's firmament;
- Many a jest told of the keys betraying
- This night, and locks picked; yet we're not a-Maying!
- Come, let us go, while we are in our prime,
- And take the harmless folly of the time!
- We shall grow old apace, and die
- Before we know our liberty.
- Our life is short, and our days run
- As fast away as does the sun.
- And, as a vapor or a drop of rain,
- Once lost, can ne'er be found again,
- So when you or I are made
- A fable, song, or fleeting shade,
- All love, all liking, all delight
- Lies drowned with us in endless night.
- Then, while time serves, and we are but decaying,
- Come, my Corinna, come, let's go a-Maying.
--Robert Herrick
