LIFE IS THE BODY'S LIGHT

Robert HerrickContemplative

Life is the body's light; which, once declining, Those crimson clouds i' th' cheeks and lips leave shining:- Those counter-changed tabbies in the air, The sun once set, all of one colour are: So, when death comes, fresh tinctures lose their place, And dismal darkness then doth smutch the face.

Robert Herrick

Mood:: Contemplative
Topics:: transience, death, beauty, shadow, mortality

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Summary

Herrick compares life to a light that gives the body its living colors. When that light wanes, the crimson blush of cheeks and lips fades, much like a sunset draining a sky full of shifting, dappled colors—those “counter-changed tabbies”—into a single, even tone.

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Life is the body's light; which, once ,

Those crimson clouds i' th' cheeks and lips leave :-

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