Madam, quoth I, sith that this day Here of the fortress all the keys. And, sith that I have been the mark Of a contented Mind. WHEN all is done and said, In the end thus shall you find; To deem can be content The sweetest time in all his life The body subject is To fickle. Fortune's pow'r, And to a million of mishaps Is casual every hour. ' Work. And death in time doth change It to a clod of clay; Whereas the mind, which is divine, Companion none is like Unto the mind alone: For many have been harm'd by speech, Fear oftentimes restraineth words, Our wealth leaves us at death; But virtues of the mind unto The heavens with us we have. Wherefore for virtue's sake, I can be well content, The sweetest time of all my life To deem in thinking spent. THE QUESTION. Being asked the occasion of his white head, he answereth thus. WHERE seething sighs, and sower sobs Where Thought hath thrill'd and thrown his spears, To hurt the heart that harm'd him not; And groaning Grief hath ground forth tears, Mine eyne to stain, my face to spot; What wonder then though you do see Upon my head white hairs to be? Where pinching Pain himself hath placed, There peace with pleasures were possess'd: And walls of wealth are fall'n to waste, And poverty in them is prest; What wonder then though you do see Upon my head white hairs to be? Where wretched Woe doth weave her web, Where Care the clue can catch and cast; And floods of joy are fall'n to ebb, So low, that life may not long last; What wonder then though you do see Upon my head white hairs to be? These hairs, of age are messengers; That do prepare and dress the way. They be the lines that lead the length, The which I feel: and you may see They be the strings, of sober sound, Their tunes declare-a time from ground God grant to those that white hairs have, Their souls may joy, their lives well spent. [Paradise of Dainty Devices, edit. 1576. N. B. In edit. 1580, it is attributed, I believe falsely, to W. Hunnis.] |