The Number Of Two.

God hates the dual number, being known
The luckless number of division;
And when He bless'd each sev'ral day whereon
He did His curious operation,
'Tis never read there, as the fathers say,
God bless'd His work done on the second day;
Wherefore two prayers ought not to be said,
Or by ourselves, or from the pulpit read.

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

Upon Skurf.

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

Knowledge.

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

Neutrality Loathsome.

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

Upon Cob. Epig.

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

English

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To God.

God's undivided, One in Persons Three,
And Three in inconfused unity.
Original of Essence there is none,
'Twixt God the Father, Holy Ghost, and Son:
And though the Father be the first of Three,
'Tis but by order, not by entity.

Robert Herrick

Jehovah.

Jehovah, as Boëtius saith,
No number of the plural hath.

Robert Herrick

Two Things Odious.

Two of a thousand things are disallow'd:
A lying rich man, and a poor man proud.

Robert Herrick

God Has A Twofold Part.

God, when for sin He makes His children smart,
His own He acts not, but another's part;
But when by stripes He saves them, then 'tis known
He comes to play the part that is His own.

Robert Herrick

God And The King.

How am I bound to Two! God, who doth give
The mind; the king, the means whereby I live.

Robert Herrick

The Twins

Give and It-shall-be-given-unto-you.


I.
Grand rough old Martin Luther
Bloomed fables, flowers on furze,
The better the uncouther:
Do roses stick like burrs?

II.
A beggar asked an alms
One day at an abbey-door,
Said Luther; but, seized with qualms,
The abbot replied, Were poor!

III.
Poor, who had plenty once,
When gifts fell thick as rain:
But they give us nought, for the nonce,
And how should we give again?

IV.
Then the beggar, See your sins!
Of old, unless I err,
Ye had brothers for inmates, twins,
Date and Dabitur.

V.
While Date was in good case
Dabitur flourished too:
For Dabiturs lenten face
No wonder if Date rue.

VI.
Would ye retrie...

Robert Browning