| 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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| 270. To Meadows |
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| 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. | |
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| You have beheld how they | 5 |
| With wicker arks did come | |
| To kiss and bear away | |
| The richer cowslips home. | |
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| You've heard them sweetly sing, | |
| And seen them in a round: | 10 |
| Each virgin like a spring, | |
| With honeysuckles crown'd. | |
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| But now we see none here | |
| Whose silv'ry feet did tread | |
| And with dishevell'd hair | 15 |
| Adorn'd this smoother mead. | |
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| Like unthrifts, having spent | |
| Your stock and needy grown, | |
| You're left here to lament | |
| Your poor estates, alone. | 20 |
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