Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/323

 ROBERT HERRICK

In this securer place we'll keep

As lull'd asleep; Or for a little time we'll lie

As robes laid by; To be another day re-worn,

Turn'd, but not torn* Or like old testaments cngross'd,

Lock'd up, not lost. And for a while lie here conceal'd,

To be reveal'd Next at the great Platonick year,

And then meet here.

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��283 Litany to the Holy Spirit

the hour of my distress, When temptations me oppress, And when I my sins confess,

Sweet Spirit, comfort me'

When I lie within my bed, Sick in heart and sick in head, And with doubts discomforted,

Sweet Spirit, comfort me'

When the house doth sigh and weep, And the world is drown'd in sleep, Yet mine eyes the watch do keep, Sweet Spirit, comfort me'

282 Platonick year] the perfect or cyclic year, when the sun, moon, and five planets end their revolutions together and start anew. See Ttmaeus, 39.

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