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Robert Herrick

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 hansel too,

That thou hast brought a whistle new,

Made of a clean strait 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 mellifluous lips of his;

Then never take a second on,

To spoil the first impression.