Tell, if thou canst, and truly, whence doth come
This camphire, storax, spikenard, galbanum,
These musks, these ambers, and those other smells
Sweet as the Vestry of the Oracles.
I'll tell thee:—while my Julia did unlace
Her silken bodice but a breathing space,
The passive air such odour then assumed
As when to Jove great Juno goes perfumed,
Whose pure immortal body doth transmit
A scent that fills both heaven and earth with it.
More verses by Robert Herrick
- To The Western Wind
- To The Willow-Tree
- To The Water-Nymphs Drinking At Thefountain
- An Epitaph Upon A Child
- How His Soul Came Ensnared