Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
John Webster. ?1630?220. Vanitas Vanitatum
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— | 5 |
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; | 10 |
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, | 15 |
And weave but nets to catch the wind. |