100th Post!

It's my 100th post on this blog! That's very exciting. And what better way to celebrate my 100th post than to post a literary wonder (I am an English major, after all; this is what I do for fun)?

This is a parody of Robert Herrick's poem "To Virgins, to Make Much of Time." It's the one that starts "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may..." Herrick was a Cavalier poet, and the Cavalier poets were all about seizing the day, taking advantage of your youth, having the time of your life, blah blah blah. It was typical for these poems to be directed to women. For an English assignment, we have to imitate some form of literature that we have been studying. In my imitation of Herrick's poem, the perspective is that of a woman speaking to a man.

To Bachelors, To Make Much of Time

Frequent yon health clubs while ye may
Old Time will soon come calling:
The strongest man who lifts today,
Ere long will be a-sprawling.

The stunning king of forests, the stag,
Whose horns have much dissuaded
Those cruel beasts, vixen and nag,
He’ll be left, fattened and faded.

And oh! That time when hair grows free,
Thou art glorious to behold.
But soon your heightened brow—you’ll see—
Will stand out brilliant and bold.

So do not stall, but use your time,
And give a maid a crystal:
For having lost but once your prime

You will remain a-single.