Saturday Rave: To Meadows by Robert Herrick

Every poem has its moment, and for me this is the one for now.

If you are busy getting and spending, yet find yourself attacked by gloom, it might be one for you, too.

Ye have been fresh and green,
Ye have been filled with flowers
And ye the walks have been
Where maids have spent their hours.

You have beheld how they
With wicker arks did come
To kiss and bear away
The richer cowslips home.

You've heard them sweetly sing,
And seen them in the round:
Each virgin like a spring
With honeysuckles crowned.

But now we see none here
Whose silvery feet did tread
And with dishevelled hair
Adorned this smoother mead.

Like unthrifts, having spent
Your stock and needy grown,
You're left here to lament
Your poor estates, alone.


Fishlake meadows from Romsey Canal. Photo by Peter Kerr

Word To Use Today: unthrift is a useful word for this time of year. Thrift is an Old Norse word that means success.