Lyric Poem · Life
To Enjoy the Time
While fates permit us, let's be merry;
Pass all we must the fatal ferry;
And this our life, too, whirls away,
With the rotation of the day.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“To Enjoy the Time” by Robert Herrick — quilloak.com/poems/to-enjoy-the-time
Quick facts
- Poem
- To Enjoy the Time
- Poet
- Robert Herrick
- Length
- 4 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem, Short Poems
- Themes
- Life, 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
- 4 lines · one 4-line stanza
- End rhyme
- AABB — couplets.
- Line length
- Consistent with long metre. Four eight-syllable lines (8.8.8.8), the hymn stanza's longer cousin.
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
- PoetryDBTo Enjoy the Time 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 8061529e356661fd…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
Keep reading
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W. B. Yeats · 1893
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So We'll Go No More a Roving
Lord Byron · 1817
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To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
Robert Herrick · 1648
16 lines · lyric