MORTALITY, behold and fear!
What a change of flesh is here!
Think how many royal bones
Sleep within this heap of stones:
Here they lie had realms and lands,
Who now want strength to stir their hands:
Where from their pulpits seal'd with dust
They preach, 'In greatness is no trust.'
Here 's an acre sown indeed
With the richest, royall'st seed
That the earth did e'er suck in
Since the first man died for sin:
Here the bones of birth have cried--
'Though gods they were, as men they died.'
Here are sands, ignoble things,
Dropt from the ruin'd sides of kings;
Here 's a world of pomp and state,
Buried in dust, once dead by fate.
" Buried in dust, once dead by fate" , a philosophical inference drawn.
Sure takes a long time to give such a simple message; however, it needs to be spelled out for the sixteenth and seventeenth century dweller. A fine example of period poetry.
It's too bad PH puts out shorter versions of the original poems without letting the public know what they are doing. Although I personally like this shorter version better than the longer one, it's still a shame.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Morality! ! With the muse of the morals of mankind on earth. Nice work.