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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  281. Virtue

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

George Herbert. 1593–1632

281. Virtue

SWEET day, so cool, so calm, so bright! 
The bridal of the earth and sky— 
The dew shall weep thy fall to-night; 
      For thou must die. 
 
Sweet rose, whose hue angry and brave         5
Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye, 
Thy root is ever in its grave, 
      And thou must die. 
 
Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses, 
A box where sweets compacted lie,  10
My music shows ye have your closes, 
      And all must die. 
 
Only a sweet and virtuous soul, 
Like season’d timber, never gives; 
But though the whole world turn to coal,  15
      Then chiefly lives.