Mercy.

Mercy, the wise Athenians held to be
Not an affection, but a deity.

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

Neutrality Loathsome.

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

On His Book.

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

The Widows' Tears; Or, Dirge Of Dorcas

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

Another. (Charms.)

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

English

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Mercy And Love.

God hath two wings which He doth ever move;
The one is mercy, and the next is love:
Under the first the sinners ever trust;
And with the last He still directs the just.

Robert Herrick

God's Mercy.

God's boundless mercy is, to sinful man,
Like to the ever-wealthy ocean:
Which though it sends forth thousand streams, 'tis ne'er
Known, or else seen, to be the emptier;
And though it takes all in, 'tis yet no more
Full, and fill'd full, than when full fill'd before.

Robert Herrick

The More Mighty, The More Merciful.

Who may do most, does least: the bravest will
Show mercy there, where they have power to kill.

Robert Herrick

A Hymn To The Graces

When I love, as some have told
Love I shall, when I am old,
O ye Graces!make me fit
For the welcoming of it!
Clean my rooms, as temples be,
To entertain that deity;
Give me words wherewith to woo,
Suppling and successful too;
Winning postures; and withal,
Manners each way musical;
Sweetness to allay my sour
And unsmooth behaviour:
For I know you have the skill
Vines to prune, though not to kill;
And of any wood ye see,
You can make a Mercury.

Robert Herrick

Clemency.

For punishment in war it will suffice
If the chief author of the faction dies;
Let but few smart, but strike a fear through all;
Where the fault springs there let the judgment fall.

Robert Herrick

Potentates.

Love and the Graces evermore do wait
Upon the man that is a potentate.

Robert Herrick