John Webster. ?-1630?
220. Vanitas Vanitatum
1 min to read
95 words

ALL the flowers of the spring Meet to perfume our burying; These have but their growing prime, And man does flourish but his time: Survey our progress from our birth— We are set, we grow, we turn to earth. Courts adieu, and all delights, All bewitching appetites! Sweetest breath and clearest eye Like perfumes go out and die; And consequently this is done As shadows wait upon the sun. Vain the ambition of kings Who seek by trophies and dead things To leave a living name behind, And weave but nets to catch the wind.

Read next chapter  >>
William Alexander, Earl of Stirling. 1580?-1640
221. Aurora
1 min to read
121 words
Return to The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250–1900






Comments