Gather ye rose buds while ye may Old Time is still a flying Take advantage of all the opportunities that come your way they will never boomerang and come right back to you again In the 1648 poem To the Virgins to Make Much of Time Robert Herrick uses the controlling metaphor of embracing ones purity to express the complex attitude of the speaker To maintain a more relaxed and inviting tone Herricks diction emphasizes a carpe diem theme to the audience clearly stated in the title in an attempt t