LIKE to a silkworm of one year, Or like a wronged lover's tear, Or on the waves a rudder's dint, Or like the sparkles of a flint, Or like to little cakes perfum'd, Or fireworks made to be consum'd; Even such is man, and all that trust In weak and animated dust. The silkworm droops; the tear's soon shed; The ship's way lost; the sparkle dead; The cake is burnt; the firework done; And man as these as quickly gone. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DIVINATION BY A DAFFADILL by ROBERT HERRICK AUBADE [OR, A MORNING SONG FOR IMOGEN], FR. CYMBELINE by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE APRIL by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON THE JILTED NYMPH by THOMAS CAMPBELL MASQUE AT THE MARRIAGE OF THE EARL OF SOMERSET: SECOND SQUIRE (2) by THOMAS CAMPION |