Robert Herrick (Роберт Геррик (Херрик))

The Hag

The Hag is astride,
This night for to ride,
The devil and she together;
Through thick and through thin,
Now out, and then in,
Though ne'er so foul be the weather.

A thorn or a bur
She takes for a spur;
With a lash of a bramble she rides now,
Through brakes and through briars,
O'er ditches and mires,
She follows the spirit that guides now.

No beast, for his food,
Dares now range the wood,
But hush'd in his lair he lies lurking;
While mischiefs, by these,
On land and on seas,
At noon of night are a-working.

The storm will arise,
And trouble the skies
This night; and, more for the wonder,
The ghost from the tomb
Affrighted shall come,
Call'd out by the clap of the thunder.

Robert Herrick’s other poems:

  1. The Present Time Best Pleaseth
  2. The Hock-Cart, or Harvest Home: to the Right Honourable Mildmay, Earl of Westmorland
  3. A Paranaeticall, or Advisive Verse to His Friend, Mr John Wicks
  4. The Rock of Rubies, and the Quarry of Pearls
  5. Upon Julia’s Recovery




To the dedicated English version of this website