| Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916. | | | XIX. The Shrouding
To Perilla | | By Robert Herrick (1591–1674) |
| | | AH, my Perilla! dost thou grieve to see | |
| Me, day by day, to steal away from thee? | |
| Age calls me hence, and my grey hairs bid come | |
| And haste away to mine eternal home; | |
| ’Twill not be long, Perilla, after this, | 5 |
| That I must give thee the supremest kiss; | |
| Dead when I am, first cast in salt, and bring | |
| Part of the cream from that religious spring, | |
| With which, Perilla, wash my hands and feet; | |
| That done, then wind me in that very sheet | 10 |
| Which wrapt thy smooth limbs when thou didst implore | |
| The gods’ protection but the night before. | |
| Follow me weeping to my turf, and there | |
| Let fall a primrose, and with it a tear: | |
| Then lastly, let some weekly-strewings be | 15 |
| Devoted to the memory of me; | |
| Then shall my ghost not walk about, but keep | |
| Still in the cool, and silent shades of sleep. | | | | |
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