Robert Herrick

To Meadows

YE have been fresh and green,
    Ye have been fill'd 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 a round:
Each virgin like a spring,
    With honeysuckles crown'd.

But now we see none here
    Whose silv'ry feet did tread
And with dishevell'd hair
    Adorn'd this smoother mead.

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