TO THE VIRGINS, TO MAKE MUCH OF TIME.
by Robert Herrick

This poem is another example of carpe diem "seize the day" poetry, yet this one is not literally looking at "virgins" and instead giving a message to all youth to live life to the fullest... GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may, Old time is still a-flying : And this same flower that smiles to-day To-morrow will be dying. The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, The higher he's a-getting, The sooner will his race be run, And nearer he's to setting. That age is best which is the first, When youth and blood are warmer ; But being spent, the worse, and worst Times still succeed the former. Then be not coy, but use your time, And while ye may go marry : For having lost but once your prime You may for ever tarry.

I really like this poem because of the gentle tone it has and the way it weaves such a strong message through its use of metaphor.  It starts out by telling youth to “gather ye rosebuds while ye may” which means to absorb and cherish all the small but beautiful events that occur in our lives. Such as stopping here and there to look around at the people we see everyday or even smelling a rose. We often forget to look around and enjoy what we have because we are so caught up in our thoughts and regrets of the past and worries of the future. Remembering that the present may never again be repeated and “this same flower that smiles to-day, to-morrow will be dying” is always a thought we have to keep in mind. As we hate to think about it, we are not immortal and we become older each day and closer to our end. So we should not “ be coy, but use [our] time” and enjoy our moments because "For having lost but once [our] prime" and our chances during our youth at beauties of life,  "[We] may for ever tarry" and live our old years in regret and sorrow.  All the moments that we could have experienced would not be memories later on, but instead dreams of why we didn't savor our precious times at youth.