Lyric Poem · Death & Loss

Life Is the Body's Light

by Robert Herrick

Life is the body's light; which, once declining,

Those crimson clouds i' th' cheeks and lips leave shining:-

Those counter-changed tabbies in the air,

The sun once set, all of one colour are:

So, when death comes, fresh tinctures lose their place,

And dismal darkness then doth smutch the face.

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“Life Is the Body's Light” by Robert Herrick — quilloak.com/poems/life-is-the-bodys-light

Quick facts

Poem: Life Is the Body's Light
Poet: Robert Herrick
Length: 6 lines
Form: Lyric Poem, Short Poems
Themes: Death & Loss, Short

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: 6 lines · one 6-line stanza
Line length: Lines run 9-12 syllables (median 10), consistent with pentameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

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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: PoetryDBLife Is the Body's Light 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 f990bf67bb56c921…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Short Poems Death & Loss Short

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