| Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900. |
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| Robert Herrick. 1591–1674 |
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| 255. The Funeral Rites of the Rose |
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| THE Rose was sick and smiling died; | |
| And, being to be sanctified, | |
| About the bed there sighing stood | |
| The sweet and flowery sisterhood: | |
| Some hung the head, while some did bring, | 5 |
| To wash her, water from the spring; | |
| Some laid her forth, while others wept, | |
| But all a solemn fast there kept: | |
| The holy sisters, some among, | |
| The sacred dirge and trental sung. | 10 |
| But ah! what sweet smelt everywhere, | |
| As Heaven had spent all perfumes there. | |
| At last, when prayers for the dead | |
| And rites were all accomplishèd, | |
| They, weeping, spread a lawny loom, | 15 |
| And closed her up as in a tomb. | |
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GLOSS: trental] services for the dead, of thirty masses. |
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