Robert Herrick: In the West (His Lachrimae or Mirth, turn'd to mourning)

.

Golden Gate Bridge refracted in rain drops acting as lenses: photo by Mila Zinkova, 2007

1.

.....Call me no more, 
.....As heretofore, 
The musick of a Feast; 
.....Since now (alas) 
.....The mirth, that was 
In me, is dead or ceast. 

2. 

.....Before I went 
.....To banishment 
Into the loathed West; 
.....I co'd rehearse 
.....A Lyrick verse, 
And speak it with the best. 

3. 

.....But time (Ai me) 
.....Has laid, I see, 
My Organ fast asleep; 
.....And turn'd my voice 
.....Into the noise 
Of those that sit and weep. 

Magnifying and light collecting effect of a drop of oil on a glass plate held a short distance above a text: photo by Roger McLassus, 2005

Robert Herrick: His Lachrimae or Mirth, turn'd to mourning, from Hesperides, 1648