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Lyric Poem · Nature

To Music, to Becalm His Fever

by Robert Herrick

Charm me asleep, and melt me so

With thy delicious numbers;

That being ravish'd, hence I go

Away in easy slumbers.

Ease my sick head,

And make my bed,

Thou Power that canst sever

From me this ill; —

And quickly still,

Though thou not kill

My fever.

Thou sweetly canst convert the same

From a consuming fire,

Into a gentle-licking flame,

And make it thus expire.

Then make me weep

My pains asleep,

And give me such reposes,

That I, poor I,

May think, thereby,

I live and die

'Mongst roses.

Fall on me like a silent dew,

Or like those maiden showers,

Which, by the peep of day, do strew

A baptism o'er the flowers.

Melt, melt my pains

With thy soft strains;

That having ease me given,

With full delight,

I leave this light,

And take my flight

For Heaven.

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Quick facts

Poem
To Music, to Becalm His Fever
Poet
Robert Herrick
Length
33 lines
Form
Lyric Poem
Themes
Nature, Death & Loss, 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
33 lines · 3 stanzas of 11 lines

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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 Music, to Becalm His Fever 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 194c13ddea8486ae
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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