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Man's course on earth I will report,
if I have time and space;
It may be long, it may be short,
as God hath giv'n thee grace:
His nature to the herbs comparc
that in the ground ly dead.
And to each moneth add five year,
and so we will proceed.
The first five years then of man's life,
compare to Januar;
In all that time but sturt and strife,
he can but greet and roar:
So is the fields of flow'rs all bare,
by reason of the frost;
Keeping the ground both soft and sound
yet none of them is lost.
So to years ten, I shall speak then,
of Februar but lack:
The child is meek, and weak of sp'rit,
nothing can undertake,
so all the flow'rs for lack of show'rs,
no springing up can make.
Yet birds do sing, and praise their King,
and each one choose their mate.
Then in comes March that noble arch,
with wholesome spring and air,
The child doth spring to years fifteen,
with visage fine and fair
So do the flow'rs with softning show'rs
ay spring up as we see;
