The Poetry Corner

Upon Julia's Unlacing Herself

By Robert Herrick

Tell, if thou canst, and truly, whence doth come This camphire, storax, spikenard, galbanum, These musks, these ambers, and those other smells Sweet as the Vestry of the Oracles. I'll tell thee: while my Julia did unlace Her silken bodice but a breathing space, The passive air such odour then assumed As when to Jove great Juno goes perfumed, Whose pure immortal body doth transmit A scent that fills both heaven and earth with it.