Skip to content
QuillOak

Lyric Poem · Death & Loss

An Ode to Master Endymion Porter, Upon His Brother's Death

by Robert Herrick

1Not all thy flushing suns are set,

2Herrick, as yet ;

3Nor doth this far-drawn hemisphere

4Frown and look sullen ev'rywhere.

5Days may conclude in nights, and suns may rest

6As dead within the west ;

7Yet, the next morn, regild the fragrant east.

8Alas ! for me, that I have lost

9E'en all almost ;

10Sunk is my sight, set is my sun,

11And all the loom of life undone :

12The staff, the elm, the prop, the shelt'ring wall

13Whereon my vine did crawl,

14Now, now blown down ; needs must the old stock fall.

15Yet, Porter, while thou keep'st alive,

16In death I thrive :

17And like a phoenix re-aspire

18From out my nard and fun'ral fire ;

19And as I prune my feathered youth, so I

20Do mar'l how I could die

21When I had thee, my chief preserver, by.

22I'm up, I'm up, and bless that hand

23Which makes me stand

24Now as I do, and but for thee

25I must confess I could not be.

26The debt is paid ; for he who doth resign

27Thanks to the gen'rous vine

28Invites fresh grapes to fill his press with wine.

Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.

Quick facts

Poem
An Ode to Master Endymion Porter, Upon His Brother's Death
Poet
Robert Herrick
Length
28 lines
Form
Lyric Poem
Themes
Death & Loss, Sad, Childhood

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
28 lines · 4 septets
The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake

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
PoetryDBAn Ode to Master Endymion Porter, Upon His Brother's Death 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 381c823e493b33b2
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
Jurisdiction-specific, never a worldwide claimRights policyReport a text or rights issue

More poems like this

More poems about death