My Midnight Meditation

Henry King 1592 (Worminghall, Buckinghamshire) – 1669 (Chichester)



Ill busi'd man! why should'st thou take such care
To lengthen out thy life's short calendar?
When ev'ry spectacle thou lookst upon
Presents and acts thy execution.
Each drooping season and each flower doth cry,
'Fool! as I fade and wither, thou must die.

'The beating of thy pulse (when thou art well)
Is just the tolling of thy Passing Bell:
Night is thy Hearse, whose sable Canopy
Covers alike deceased day and thee.
And all those weeping dews which nightly fall,
Are but the tears shed for thy funeral.'

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

28 sec read
95

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXXAA BBCCXX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 514
Words 93
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 6, 6

Henry King

Henry King was an English poet who served as Bishop of Chichester. more…

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