| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | To Anthea, Who May Command Him Anything | | By Robert Herrick (1591–1674) |
| | | BID me to live, and I will live | |
| Thy Protestant to be; | |
| Or bid me love, and I will give | |
| A loving heart to thee. | |
| |
| A heart as soft, a heart as kind, | 5 |
| A heart as sound and free | |
| As in the whole world thou canst find, | |
| That heart I’ll give to thee. | |
| |
| Bid that heart stay, and it will stay | |
| To honour thy decree: | 10 |
| Or bid it languish quite away, | |
| And ’t shall do so for thee. | |
| |
| Bid me to weep, and I will weep | |
| While I have eyes to see: | |
| And, having none, yet will I keep | 15 |
| A heart to weep for thee. | |
| |
| Bid me despair, and I’ll despair | |
| Under that cypress-tree: | |
| Or bid me die, and I will dare | |
| E’en death to die for thee. | 20 |
| |
| Thou art my life, my love, my heart, | |
| The very eyes of me: | |
| And hast command of every part | |
| To live and die for thee. | | | | |
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