Universal Dissolution

My soul, why art thou sad at the decay
Of this frail frame, this feeble house of clay3
?
What can be expected from the humble birth
Of this frail fabric, but to fall to earth?
The bubbling4
 fountain, being by nature led,
Will rise no higher than her crystal head;
Though many marble aqueducts it fill,
Yet in a constant level it runs still.
So mortal man, e’en from his very birth,
Runs weeping on, then creeps into the earth.
Those gorgeous flowers which the valleys crown,
That by the impartial scytheman5
 are mown down,
Trust me they seem to hang their heads and weep
’Cause in their causes6
 they so soon must sleep.
So man to his first principles7
 must turn
And take a nap in black oblivion’s urn.
Triumphant laurel8
, whose unconquered boughs
Encircle9
 poets, and the illustrious brows
Of emperors: how soon, alas, we see
Her10
 verdant leaves all filemot11
 to be.
E’en so man’s youth and beauty doth decay;
His heat and moisture12
 cools and dries to clay.
The stately cedar13
 that aspires so high,
Scorning the clouds, threat’ning to scale the sky,
For all her pride, a kernel was her birth,
Which shows at last she must return to earth;
Though14
 she the living kill and dead preserve,
Yet can she not from death herself reserve.
The cypress15
 that doth mourn for us in vain
Shall be cut down and never sprout again.
So man being tied to his creator’s laws
Must taste of death and shrink unto his cause16
.
The towering, quick-eyed eagle17
 that alone
Outfaces Phoebus18
 in his blazing throne,

And by that trial, bastard birds disclaim,
Scorning they should be honoured with her name;
Yet she and hers to dust must all resolve,
And sad obscurity must them involve.
So miserable man doth draw his breath
’Twixt hope and fear, then sinks into the earth.
The phoenix19
 on her lofty altar lies
And, willingly, a virgin victim dies,
Her gold and purple plumes to ashes turns
As in her aromatic pyre she burns.
So man that to eternity aspires,
Conquered by death, into his cause20
 retires.
The snowy swan21
 upon the trembling breast
Of silver Thames, how poor a time of rest
She doth enjoy, soon droops her milk-white wings,
While sadly she her epicedium22
 sings.
So while man strives t’eternise others’ glory,
Conspiring Death and Time cut23
 off his story.
The stag24
 that trips it o’er the lawn in state,
Scorning the ground, is subject unto fate.
E’en that brave hart which Blackmore once did hold25
,
Whose snowy neck encircled was with gold,
All ages being desired, for Caesar’s sake,
To spare his life whene’er they did him take,
But yet for all this conquering king’s desire,
In tears he did his vital breath expire.
So man that enters in’s sad mother’s fears
As he begins, his exit makes in tears.
That beast26
 which poisoned waters drinks with scorn
Because she wears a cordial in her horn,
From putrefaction she her being drew27
;
Corruption then at least will have his due.
So man (alas) no cure can find in death,
When he that gave it takes away his breath.
The king of beasts28
 that doth the forest range,
And at his pleasure doth his pasture change,

And, like our Hydra29
, makes his will his laws,
Tearing his vassals with his cruel claws;
As other creatures hath his terror felt,
So death will do by him as he hath dealt.
So domineering man, his trophies must
Ere long be read and seen in nought but dust.
That huge leviathan30
 that plays and sports
And makes mad rex31
 in Neptune’s32
 azure courts,
E’en he whose fellow was by Fate’s direction33
Feigned34
 to be powdered35
’gainst36
 the resurrection,
That son of Pride37
 on the forsaken shores,
Out of his element his life out roars38
.
So man, though he all creatures else transcend,
In sighs and groans (ah me) his life must end.
The swiftest creature39
 that’s below the moon,
Which saved Arion’s40
 life, alas how soon41
Her race will end; e’en in a little time
She must return again to dirt or slime.
So man his destiny can ne’er outrun;
The cruel Parcae42
cut43
, man’s life is done.
The little remora44
 that ne’er will fail
To stop the proudest ship that’s under sail,
When Death doth summon her she must away;
For all her art she can’t make time to stay.
So man that strives to blur another’s fame,
Death comes the while and blots out his own name.

Those cities that the orient kingdoms gracest,
Beneath their ruins, sadly, lies defacest,
As Nineveh45
, Persepolis46
 the fair,
And Babylon47
 so famous, all despair
Of ever being restored again, and now
We see that all to time and fate must bow.
So wretched man, whose structure is of dust,
After his period’s past, he moulder must,
And this our globe of earth ere long shall burn
And all her pomp and pride to ashes48
 turn.
Then, my impatient soul, what canst thou say,
Seeing all sublunary49
 things decay?
Nay, mark Aurora50
 in her youthful pride,
Her purple curtains newly drawn aside,
As when her blessed infant she brought forth,
The fair Astraea51
 of unparalled52
 worth.
Bright is the one, but brighter is the other;
The daughter infinitely excels the mother.
Light from mine eyes I wish may never part,
But thou, sweet Truth, shalt harbour in my heart;
Yet this most glorious creature, Light, soon fades
And is enveloped in night’s dark shades.
So, though man’s soul’s a beam of heavenly light,
Yet must his body sleep in death and night.
Nay, Cynthia’s53
borrowed splendency54
 shall cease,
And she shall leave55
 to wane and to increase,

Nor shall her changes make our ocean rise
Or fall, or her sad influence close our eyes.
Her and her brother’s fiery shafts no more56
Shall make poor Niobes57
 their loss deplore.
The glittering harbinger58
 of cheerful day
That leads the sable empress59
 on her way,
Bearing a torch, her ebon60
 coach beside,
As she triumphant round our orb doth ride,
E’en61
 she shall be amazed62
, and lose her way,
Not able to conduct the night or day.
Nor shall that sly thief, Hermes63
, ever keep
Behind th’illustrious sunbeams, playing bo-peep;
His light shall be obscured no more with light,
But all his knaveries64
 shall come in sight.
The fount and centre of all light, the sun,
Round whom those65
 orbs perpetually do run,
Shall all his influence and light contract,
Which will amazèd66
 Nature quite distract.
Auspicious Jupiter67
, poor mortals’ friend,
His mild aspect to earth no more shall send;
Fierce Mars68
, his flagrant rapier69
 shall put up70
,
Seeing total Nature drinks the self-same cup;
And that malignant, melancholy star71
That, to do mischief, could discern so far
As sweet Hibernie, where I first had life72
,
Now quite destroyed by Atropos’73
 keen knife.

Ah, cruel stars not me alone annoy,
But my poor country, too, they must destroy!
But those conjunctions74
, too, ere long shall cease,
When all’s to chaos turned, there will be peace.
The six proud Pleiads75
 shall their beauty hide,
As well as Sisyphus, his bashful bride76
;
Then shall Orion’s77
 harp no music make,
But such as shall the stoutest courage shake;
Those tender-hearted sisters78
 shall no more
Their brother Hyas’ hasty fate deplore79
,
Show’ring from their sad eyes such floods of rain
That oft the plowman’s hopes and labour’s80
 vain.
The vulture81
 that did stop man’s high design
Must stoop to fate and cease to fly or shine82
,
And all the gems of Ariadne’s83
 crown
Shall lose their sparkling lustre and drop down.
Nor shall pale Asoph84
evermore85
 appear
At the revolving of four hundred year,
For though her absence we have long endured,
Yet shall she be eternally obscured.
Bold Sirius86
 no more shall show her face,
As she doth use87
 when Phoebus88
 is in place,
But these and all the fixèd orbs of light
Shall be involved89
 once more in horrid night.
Like robes, the elements shall folded lie
In the vast wardrobe of eternity.
Then my unsettled soul be more resolved,
Seeing all this universe must be dissolved90
.

Universal
Dissolution1
, Made When I Was With Child of
My 15th Child (My Son John)2
, I Being, Everyone Thought, in a Consumption, 1648

Deep Ecologies

Globes of Earth and Light

The Phoenix

The Unicorn

Vegetable Love