Lyric Poem · Love

To His Kinswoman, Mistress Susanna Herrick

by Robert Herrick

When I consider, dearest, thou dost stay

But here awhile, to languish and decay;

Like to these garden glories, which here be

The flowery-sweet resemblances of thee:

With grief of heart, methinks, I thus do cry,

Would thou hadst ne'er been born, or might'st not die!

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“To His Kinswoman, Mistress Susanna Herrick” by Robert Herrick — quilloak.com/poems/to-his-kinswoman-mistress-susanna-herrick

Quick facts

Poem: To His Kinswoman, Mistress Susanna Herrick
Poet: Robert Herrick
Length: 6 lines
Form: Lyric Poem, Short Poems
Themes: Love, Death & Loss, Nature, 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
End rhyme: AABBCC — couplets.
Line length: Mostly 10-syllable lines (pentameter 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 His Kinswoman, Mistress Susanna Herrick 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 7f0e3cfa14395c6a…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Short Poems Love Death & Loss Nature Short

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