On Salathiel Pavy

By Ben Jonson

1573-1637


A child of Queen Elizabeth's Chapel
Epitaphs: ii

WEEP with me, all you that read
         This little story;
And know, for whom a tear you shed
         Death's self is sorry.
'Twas a child that so did thrive
         In grace and feature,
As Heaven and Nature seem'd to strive
         Which own'd the creature.
Years he number'd scarce thirteen
         When Fates turn'd cruel,
Yet three fill'd zodiacs had he been
         The stage's jewel;
And did act (what now we moan)
         Old men so duly,
As sooth the Parcae thought him one,
         He play'd so truly.
So, by error, to his fate
         They all consented;
But, viewing him since, alas, too late!
         They have repented;
And have sought, to give new birth,
         In baths to steep him;
But, being so much too good for earth,
         Heaven vows to keep him.

DayPoems Poem No. 194
<a href="http://www.daypoems.net/poems/194.html">On Salathiel Pavy by Ben Jonson</a>

The DayPoems Poetry Collection, www.daypoems.net
Timothy Bovee, editor

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