Is this a Fast, to keep
The Larder leane?
And cleane?
From fat of Veales, and Sheep?
Is it to quit the dish
Of Flesh, yet still
To fill
The platter high with Fish?
Is it to faste an houre,
Or rag’d to go,
Or show
A down-cast look, and sowre?
No: ’tis a Fast, to dole
Thy sheaf of wheat,
And meat,
Unto the hungry Soule.
It is to fast from strife,
From old debate,
And hate;
To circumcise thy life.
To shew a heart grief rent;
To sterve thy sin,
Not Bin;
And that’s to keep thy Lent.
—Robert Herrick
Published in the ??? 2010 issue: View Contents