William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910.
Upon the Weakness and Misery of ManSamuel Butler (1612–1680)
O
Our pleasures but fantastical.
Diseases of their own accord,
But cures come difficult and hard.
Our noblest piles and stateliest rooms
Are but outhouses to our tombs;
Cities though ne’er so great and brave
But mere warehouses to the grave.
Our bravery’s but a vain disguise
To hide us from the world’s dull eyes,
The remedy of a defect
With which our nakedness is decked,
Yet makes us smile with pride and boast
As if we had gained by being lost.