In all our quest of greatness, like wanton boys, whose pastime is their care, we follow after bubbles, blown in the air.

quote by John Webster
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

The Madman's Song

Oh, let us howl some heavy note,
Some deadly-dogged howl,
Sounding as from the threatening throat
Of beasts and fatal fowl!
As ravens, screech-owls, bulls, and bears,
We'll bell, and bawl our parts,
Till irksome noise have cloyed your ears
And corrosived your hearts.
At last, whenas our quire wants breath,
Our bodies being blest,
We'll sing like swans to welcome death,
And die in love and rest.

poem by John Webster
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

A Land Dirge

Call for the robin-redbreast and the wren,
Since o'er shady groves they hover
And with leaves and flowers do cover
The friendless bodies of unburied men.
Call unto his funeral dole
The ant, the field-mouse, and the mole,
To rear him hillocks that shall keep him warm
And, when gay tombs are robb'd, sustain no harm;
But keep the wolf far thence, that's foe to men,
For with his nails he'll dig them up again.

poem by John Webster
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

A Dirge

CALL for the robin-redbreast and the wren,
Since o'er shady groves they hover,
And with leaves and flowers do cover
The friendless bodies of unburied men.
Call unto his funeral dole
The ant, the field-mouse, and the mole,
To rear him hillocks that shall keep him warm,
And (when gay tombs are robb'd) sustain no harm;
But keep the wolf far thence, that 's foe to men,
For with his nails he'll dig them up again.

poem by John Webster
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Honourable Employment

O my lord, lie not idle:
The chiefest action for a man of great spirit
Is never to be out of action. We should think
The soul was never put into the body,
Which has so many rare and curious pieces
Of mathematical motion, to stand still.
Virtue is ever sowing of her seeds;
In the trenches for the soldier: in the wakeful study
For the scholar; in the furrows of the sea
For men of our profession; of all which
Arise and spring up honour.

poem by John Webster
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Vanitas Vanitatum

All the flowers of the spring
Meet to perfume our burying;
These have but their growing prime,
And man does flourish but his time:
Survey our progress from our birth;
We are set, we grow, we turn to earth.
Courts adieu, and all delights,
All bewitching appetites!
Sweetest breath and clearest eye,
Like perfumes, go out and die;
And consequently this is done
As shadows wait upon the sun.
Vain ambition of kings
Who seek by trophies and dead things
To leave a living name behind,
And weave but nets to catch the wind.

poem by John Webster
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Qualis vita, finis ita

Here-vnder lyes the wonder of her kinde,
The Quintessence of Nature and of Grace,
Wit, Beauty, Bounty, and (in Nobles race
The rarest Iewell) a right humble minde;
Here lyes her body, but her soule refin'd
Aboue th'impyreall, hath imperial place,
In blisse so boundlesse, as no words embrace,
Nor Art can feigne, nor mortall heart can find.
Her fame remaines a Monument of honor,
Built by her vertue gilt with purest gold,
With Lilly-flowres and Roses strewed vpon her,
Her Epitaph Urania thus enrol'd:
Mild child, chaste mayden, and religious wife:
The Euen crownes the day, Ioane Essex death her life.

poem by John Webster
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Hark, now everything is still

HARK, now everything is still,
The screech-owl and the whistler shrill,
Call upon our dame aloud,
And bid her quickly don her shroud!
Much you had of land and rent;
Your length in clay's now competent:
A long war disturbed your mind;
Here your perfect peace is signed.
Of what is't fools make such vain keeping?
Sin their conception, their birth weeping,
Their life a general mist of error,
Their death a hideous storm of terror.
Strew your hair with powders sweet,
Don clean linen, bathe your feet,
And (the foul fiend more to check)
A crucifix let bless your neck:
'Tis now full tide 'tween night and day;
End your groan, and come away.

poem by John Webster
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Death Song

Hark, now everything is still;
The screech-owl and the whistler shrill
Call upon our dame aloud,
And bid her quickly don her shroud;
Much you had of land and rent,
Your length in clay's now competent.
A long war disturbed your mind;
Here your perfect peace is signed.
Of what is't fools make such vain keeping?
Sin their conception, their birth weeping,
Their life a general mist of error,
Their death a hideous storm of terror.
Strew your hair with powders sweet,
Don clean linen, bathe your feet,
And (the foul fiend more to check)
A crucifix let bless your neck;
'Tis now full tide 'tween night and day,
End your groan and come away.

poem by John Webster
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

The Shrouding of the Duchess of Malfi

Hark, now everything is still,
The screech-owl and the whistler shrill,
Call upon our dame aloud,
And bid her quickly don her shroud!
Much you had of land and rent;
Your length in clay's now competent:
A long war disturbed your mind;
Here your perfect peace is signed.
Of what is't fools make such vain keeping?
Sin their conception, their birth weeping,
Their life a general mist of error,
Their death a hideous storm of terror.
Strew your hair with powders sweet,
Don clean linen, bathe your feet,
And (the foul fiend more to check)
A crucifix let bless your neck:
'Tis now full tide 'tween night and day;
End your groan, and come away.

poem by John Webster
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!