The Complete Poems of Richard Barnfield/Poems/A Comparison of the Life of Man

by Richard Barnfield

For other versions of this work, see A Comparison of the Life of Man.

A COMPARISON OF THE LIFE OF MAN.

Mans life is well compared to a feast,
Furnisht with choice of all Varietie:
To it comes Tyme;^[1] and as a bidden guest
Hee sets^[2] him downe, in Pompe and Maiestie;
The three-folde Age^[3] of Man, the Waiters bee.
Then with an^[4] earthen voyder (made of clay)
Comes Death, & takes the table clean away.

FINIS.

 

1. 1605, no capital T.
2. Ibid. 'sits.'
3. Ibid. no capital A.
4. Ibid. 'a.'