Lyric Poem · Childhood
To His Saviour, a Child;a Present, by a Child
Go, pretty child, and bear this flower
Unto thy little Saviour;
And tell him, by that bud now blown,
He is the Rose of Sharon known.
When thou hast said so, stick it there
Upon his bib or stomacher;
And tell him, for good handsel too,
That thou hast brought a whistle new,
Made of a clean straight oaten reed,
To charm his cries at time of need;
Tell him, for coral, thou hast none,
But if thou hadst, he should have one;
But poor thou art, and known to be
Even as moneyless as he.
Lastly, if thou canst win a kiss
From those melifluous lips of his; —
Then never take a second on,
To spoil the first impression.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“To His Saviour, a Child;a Present, by a Child” by Robert Herrick — quilloak.com/poems/to-his-saviour-a-child-a-present-by-a-child
Quick facts
- Poem
- To His Saviour, a Child;a Present, by a Child
- Poet
- Robert Herrick
- Length
- 18 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Childhood, Nature, Love
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
- 18 lines · one 18-line stanza
- Line length
- Mostly 8-syllable lines (tetrameter length).
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 His Saviour, a Child;a Present, by a Child 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 0eca6cc3ef904539…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
Keep reading
Doorframe
The QuillOak Editors
8 lines · lyric
The Kitchen at Night
The QuillOak Editors
5 lines · prose poem
Cradle Song
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
16 lines · lyric