Lyric Poem · Love
His Mistress to Him at His Farewell
1You may vow I'll not forget
2To pay the debt
3Which to thy memory stands as due
4As faith can seal it you.
5 — Take then tribute of my tears;
6So long as I have fears
7To prompt me, I shall ever
8Languish and look, but thy return see never.
9Oh then to lessen my despair,
10Print thy lips into(the air,
11So by this
12Means, I may kiss thy kiss,
13Whenas some kind
14Wind
15Shall hither waft it: — And, in lieu,
16My lips shall send a thousand back to you.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“His Mistress to Him at His Farewell” by Robert Herrick — quilloak.com/poems/his-mistress-to-him-at-his-farewell
Quick facts
- Poem
- His Mistress to Him at His Farewell
- Poet
- Robert Herrick
- Length
- 16 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Love, Nature, Sad
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
- PoetryDBHis Mistress to Him at His Farewell 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 f51613976137392c…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.