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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  218. A Dirge

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

John Webster. ?–1630?

218. A Dirge

CALL for the robin-redbreast and the wren, 
Since o’er shady groves they hover, 
And with leaves and flowers do cover 
The friendless bodies of unburied men. 
Call unto his funeral dole         5
The ant, the field-mouse, and the mole, 
To rear him hillocks that shall keep him warm, 
And (when gay tombs are robb’d) sustain no harm; 
But keep the wolf far thence, that ‘s foe to men, 
For with his nails he’ll dig them up again.  10
 
GLOSS:  dole] lamentation.