134. CRUTCHES

Thou see'st me, Lucia, this year droop;

Three zodiacs fill'd more, I shall stoop;

Let crutches then provided be

To shore up my debility:

Then, while thou laugh'st, I'll sighing cry,

A ruin underpropt am I:

Don will I then my beadsman's gown;

And when so feeble I am grown

As my weak shoulders cannot bear

The burden of a grasshopper;

Yet with the bench of aged sires,

When I and they keep termly fires,

With my weak voice I'll sing, or say

Some odes I made of Lucia;--

Then will I heave my wither'd hand

To Jove the mighty, for to stand

Thy faithful friend, and to pour down

Upon thee many a benison.

A Selection from the Lyrical Poems of Robert Herrick · 第 144 / 269 题