Lyric Poem · Death & Loss
A Lyric to Mirth
1While the milder fates consent,
2Let's enjoy our merriment :
3Drink, and dance, and pipe, and play ;
4Kiss our dollies night and day :
5Crowned with clusters of the vine,
6Let us sit, and quaff our wine.
7Call on Bacchus, chant his praise ;
8Shake the thyrse, and bite the bays :
9Rouse Anacreon from the dead,
10And return him drunk to bed :
11Sing o'er Horace, for ere long
12Death will come and mar the song :
13Then shall Wilson and Gotiere
14Never sing or play more here.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“A Lyric to Mirth” by Robert Herrick — quilloak.com/poems/a-lyric-to-mirth
Quick facts
- Poem
- A Lyric to Mirth
- Poet
- Robert Herrick
- Length
- 14 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Death & Loss, Love
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 14 lines · one 14-line stanza
- Line length
- Mostly 7-syllable lines.
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Robert Herrick1591–1674
- Source record
- PoetryDBA Lyric to Mirth by robert-herrick, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 61433dda199cf700…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.