The Poetical Works of William Drummond of Hawthornden With "A Cypresse Grove": Edited by L. E. Kastner |
 | I. |
| II. |
 | The Poetical Works of William Drummond of Hawthornden |  |
30
Son. [xxxii]
[If crost with all Mis-haps bee my poore Life]
If crost with all Mis-haps bee my poore Life,If one short Day I neuer spent in Mirth,
If my Spright with it selfe holds lasting Strife,
If Sorrowes Death is but new Sorrowes Birth?
If this vaine World bee but a sable Stage
Where slaue-borne Man playes to the scoffing Starres,
If Youth bee toss'd with Loue, with Weaknesse Age,
If Knowledge serue to holde our Thoughts in Warres?
If Time can close the hundreth Mouths of Fame,
And make what long since past, like that to bee,
If Vertue only bee an idle Name,
If I when I was borne was borne to die?
Why seeke I to prolong these loathsome Dayes,
The fairest Rose in shortest time decayes?
| The Poetical Works of William Drummond of Hawthornden | |