Press me not to take more pleasure
In this world of sugred lies,
And to use a larger measure.
Than my strict, yet welcome size.
First, there is no pleasure here:
Colour'd griefs indeed there are,
Blushing woes, that look as clear
As if they could beauty spare.
Or if such deceits there be,
Such delights I meant to say,
There are no such things to me,
Who have pass'd my right away.
But I will not much oppose
Unto what you now advise:
Only take this gentle rose,
And therein my answer lies.
What is fairer than a rose?
What is sweeter? yet it purgeth.
Purgings enmity disclose,
Enmity forbearance urgeth.
If then all that worldlings prize
Be contracted to a rose;
Sweetly there indeed it lies,
But it biteth in the close.
So this flower doth judge and sentence
Worldly joys to be a scourge:
For they all produce repentance,
And repentance is a purge.
But I health, not physic choose:
Only, though I you oppose,
Say that fairly I refuse,
For my answer is a rose.
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George Herbert was a Welsh poet, orator and priest. Being born into an artistic and wealthy family, he received a good education which led to his holding prominent positions at Cambridge University and Parliament.
As a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, England, George Herbert excelled in languages and music. He went to college with the intention of becoming a priest, but his scholarship attracted the attention of King James I. Herbert served in parliament for two years. After the death of King James and at the urging of a friend, Herbert's interest in ordained ministry was renewed.
In 1630, in his late thirties he gave up his secular ambitions and took holy orders in the Church of England, spending the rest of his life as a rector of the little parish of St. Andrew Bemerton, near Salisbury.
He was noted for unfailing care for his parishioners, bringing the sacraments to them when they were ill, and providing food and clothing for those in need.
Throughout his life he wrote religious poems characterized by a precision of language. He is best remembered as a writer of poems and the hymn "Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life."