LVIII. Henry Peacham. Vita Tota Dies Vnut. Edward Farr, ed. 1847. Select Poetry, Chiefly Sacred, of the Reign of King James the First

Edward Farr, ed. Select Poetry of the Reign of King James the First. 1847.

Vita Tota Dies Vnut

LVIII. Henry Peacham


OF all our life behold the very summe,
Which, as this flower, continues but a day;
Our youth is morne, our middle age is come
By noone, at night as fast we doe decay
As doth this lillie, flowring with the sunne,	5
But withred ere his race be fully runne.

Wherefore our life’s resembled, to a shippe,
Which passeth on, though we do what we please;
A shade, a flower that euery frost doth nippe,
A dreame, a froath, a waue vpon the seas,	10
Which hath awhile his being, till anon
Some else intrude, and hee’s forgot and gon.