Fair Daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon;
As yet the early-rising sun
Has not attain'd his noon.
Stay, stay,
Until the hasting day
Has run
But to the even-song;
And, having pray'd together, we
Will go with you along.
We have short time to stay, as you,
We have as short a spring;
As quick a growth to meet decay,
As you, or anything.
We die
As your hours do, and dry
Away,
Like to the summer's rain;
Or as the pearls of morning's dew,
Ne'er to be found again.
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Comments
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Ah that last line, kicks you in the teeth and makes you nod your head in gummed silence. What more can be said about the fragility of our lives and earthly stay?
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My absolute favourite flower. Not able to grow in my tropical garden.
A metaphor for the passing on one's life.. Rewarded 4
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To daffodils
Robert Herrick is one of my favourite poets,and this poem of his, as others , is one arising from a born poet's heart, like others, but why that pessimissm? Comparing a human life with such possibilities to the frail life of a flower? Maybe such thoughts worked in those days when poets were real dreamers, but not now when positive thinking and action is requried and expected of even the most imaginative. Otherwise he cannot survive, or make his voice felt
Nuggehalli Pankaja(Pankaja)
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This poem is structurally abstract besides the fact that both verses have the same structure. A metaphysical poem based on the conceits of time and mortality.
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This Poem is simply one big metaphor for the passing of life. As in the seasons, spring, summer, sutmn and winter, we can compare to the years of our lives.
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neutral
Herrick is cool by me! -
neutral
I love Robert Herrick. Mostly his romantic items though.
Edited by Mirrormaid on right now because 'Changed comment'. -
As I hit middle age it's meaning becomes all too clear to me. Where did my youth go?
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