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Lyric Poem · Sad

Comfort to a Youth That Had Lost His Love

by Robert Herrick

What needs complaints,

When she a place

Has with the race

Of saints?

In endless mirth,

She thinks not on

What's said or done

In earth:

She sees no tears,

Or any tone

Of thy deep groan

She hears;

Nor does she mind,

Or think on't now,

That ever thou

Wast kind: —

But changed above,

She likes not there,

As she did here,

Thy love.

— Forbear, therefore,

And lull asleep

Thy woes, and weep

No more.

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

Quick facts

Poem
Comfort to a Youth That Had Lost His Love
Poet
Robert Herrick
Length
24 lines
Form
Lyric Poem
Themes
Sad, Love, 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
24 lines · one 24-line stanza
Line length
Mostly 4-syllable lines (dimeter length).

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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
PoetryDBComfort to a Youth That Had Lost His Love 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 719011f372144cb9
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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