Hesperides
- IF thy soul, Herrick, dwelt with me,
- This is what my songs would be:
- Hints of our sea-breezes, blent
- With odors from the Orient;
- Indian vessels deep with spice;
- Star-showers from the Norland ice;
- Wine-red jewels that seem to hold
- Fire, but only burn with cold;
- Antique goblets, strangely wrought,
- Filled with the wine of happy thought,
- Bridal measure, vain regrets,
- Laburnum buds and violets;
- Hopeful as the break of day;
- Clear as crystal; new as May;
- Musical as brooks that run
- O'er yellow shallows in the sun;
- Soft as the satin fringe that shades
- The eyelids of thy Devon maids;
- Brief as thy lyrics, Herrick, are,
- And polished as the bosom of a star.
- Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907)
This poem is titled after
Robert Herrick's book by the same name. Aldrich wrote an epigram on Herrick who was an
English Cavalier:
No slightest golden rhyme he wrote
That held not something men must quote;
Thus by design or chance did he
Drop anchors to posterity.
It's an extension of his praise of Herrick by the American poet who was a prolific writer of novels, poetry and short stories during the early 1800's. He drew upon his childhood experiences in New Hampshire in his popular classic The Story of a Bad Boy (1870) and
his use of the surprise ending influenced the development of the short story.
Sources:
Blair, Bob:
http://www.geocities.com/~bblair/001013.htm
Public domain text taken from The Poets’ Corner:
http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/2001/aldrich0101.html
CST Approved.