On the Tombs in Westminster Abbey
MORTALITY, behold and fear!What a change of flesh is here!Think how many royal bonesSleep within these heaps of stones;Here they lie, had realms and lands,Who now want strength to stir their hands;Where from their pulpits sealed with dustThey preach, ‘In greatness is no trust.’Here’s an acre sown indeedWith the richest royallest seedThat the earth did e’er suck inSince the first man died for sin:Here the bones of birth have cried,‘Though gods they were, as men they died!’Here are sands, ignoble things,Dropt from the ruined sides of kings:Here’s a world of pomp and stateBuried in dust, once dead by fate.
SIR FRANCIS KYNASTON 1587–1642