To Daffodils / Herrick

To Daffodils  (1648)  by Robert Herrick

from Hesperides, 1648

 
 

To Daffodils

Narcissus pseudonarcissus. Photo by Johnathan J. Stegeman. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Fair daffodils, we weep to see
   You haste away so soon;
As yet the early-rising sun
   Has not attain'd his noon.
                 Stay, stay
      Until the hasting day
                 Has run
      But to the evensong;
And having prayed together, we
      Will go with you along.

To Daffodils by Robert Herrick (Lark Recordings)

We have short time to stay, as you,
   We have as short a spring;
As quick a growth to meet decay,
   As you, or anything.
                 We die
      As your hours do, and dry
                 Away
      Like to the summer's rain;
Or as the pearls of morning's dew,
      Ne'er to be found again.

See also

This poem is in the public domain