Lyric Poem · Nature
To a Gentlewoman, Objecting to Him Hisgray Hairs
1Am I despised, because you say;
2And I dare swear, that I am gray?
3Know, Lady, you have but your day!
4And time will come when you shall wear
5Such frost and snow upon your hair;
6And when, though long, it comes to pass,
7You question with your looking-glass,
8And in that sincere crystal seek
9But find no rose-bud in your cheek,
10Nor any bed to give the shew
11Where such a rare carnation grew:-
12Ah! then too late, close in your chamber keeping,
13It will be told
14That you are old, —
15By those true tears you're weeping.
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“To a Gentlewoman, Objecting to Him Hisgray Hairs” by Robert Herrick — quilloak.com/poems/to-a-gentlewoman-objecting-to-him-hisgray-hairs
Quick facts
- Poem
- To a Gentlewoman, Objecting to Him Hisgray Hairs
- Poet
- Robert Herrick
- Length
- 15 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, Winter, Sad
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
- 15 lines · one 15-line stanza
- Line length
- Mostly 8-syllable lines (tetrameter 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
- PoetryDBTo a Gentlewoman, Objecting to Him Hisgray Hairs 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 fbbc0efc8709f19e…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.