Draw-Gloves

At draw-gloves we'll play,
And prithee let's lay
A wager, and let it be this:
Who first to the sum
Of twenty shall come,
Shall have for his winning a kiss.

Robert Herrick

Robert Herrick was a 17th-century English lyric poet and cleric. He is known for his book of poems, "Hesperides," which includes the carpe diem poem "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time." His works are noted for their clarity, simplicity, and musical quality. Herrick was also a vicar of Dean Prior in Devon, despite being ejected during the English Civil War and later reinstated.

Robert Herrick

Obedience.

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

How Violets Came Blue.

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

Readiness.

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

Anacreontic Verse.

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

English

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Upon Puss And Her 'Prentice. Epig.

Puss and her 'prentice both at drawgloves play;
That done, they kiss, and so draw out the day:
At night they draw to supper; then well fed,
They draw their clothes off both, so draw to bed.

Robert Herrick

Stool-Ball.

At stool-ball, Lucia, let us play
For sugar-cakes and wine:
Or for a tansy let us pay,
The loss, or thine, or mine.

If thou, my dear, a winner be
At trundling of the ball,
The wager thou shall have, and me,
And my misfortunes all.

But if, my sweetest, I shall get,
Then I desire but this:
That likewise I may pay the bet
And have for all a kiss.

Robert Herrick

To The Maids, To Walk Abroad

Come, sit we under yonder tree,
Where merry as the maids we'll be;
And as on primroses we sit,
We'll venture, if we can, at wit;
If not, at draw-gloves we will play,
So spend some minutes of the day;
Or else spin out the thread of sands,
Playing at questions and commands:
Or tell what strange tricks Love can do,
By quickly making one of two.
Thus we will sit and talk, but tell
No cruel truths of Philomel,
Or Phillis, whom hard fate forced on
To kill herself for Demophon;
But fables we'll relate; how Jove
Put on all shapes to get a Love;
As now a satyr, then a swan,
A bull but then, and now a man.
Next, we will act how young men woo,
And sigh and kiss as lovers do;
And talk of brides; and who shall make
That wedding-smock, this bridal-c...

Robert Herrick

A Bucolic, Or Discourse Of Neatherds.

1. Come, blitheful neatherds, let us lay
        A wager who the best shall play,
        Of thee or I, the roundelay
        That fits the business of the day.

Chor. And Lalage the judge shall be,
        To give the prize to thee, or me.

2. Content, begin, and I will bet
        A heifer smooth, and black as jet,
        In every part alike complete,
        And wanton as a kid as yet.

Chor. And Lalage, with cow-like eyes,
        Shall be disposeress of the prize.

1. Against thy heifer, I will here
        Lay to thy stake a lusty steer
        With gilded horns, and burnish'd clear.

Chor. Why, then, begin, and let us hear
        The soft, the sweet, the mellow note
        That gently purls from eith...

Robert Herrick

Up Tails All.

    Begin with a kiss,
    Go on too with this;
And thus, thus, thus let us smother
    Our lips for awhile,
    But let's not beguile
Our hope of one for the other.

    This play, be assur'd,
    Long enough has endur'd,
Since more and more is exacted;
    For Love he doth call
    For his uptails all;
And that's the part to be acted.

Robert Herrick

A Frolic.

Bring me my rosebuds, drawer, come;
So, while I thus sit crown'd,
I'll drink the aged Cæcubum,
Until the roof turn round.

Robert Herrick