Their form, and all which they their own did call,
Being brought back to its materials just;
Dust they shall quit me, as they entered dust.
From all I will recover now with care
The toys I lent them, furnishing each one
While they their parts on life's stage acting were,
Theirs only till the comedy was done.
Here to this portal will I now repair,
And overpass my threshold there shall none,
Till he restore the things he had in trust:
Dust they shall quit me, as they entered dust!
Say what the part that was sustained by thee,
Being the first who to my hands art brought?
But has the world so soon forgotten me?
Of what has been the world remembers naught.
I am that one who held all realms in fee;
That of the sun a golden light have caught
From his first waking in the lap of morn,
Till in the arms of night he sinks forlorn.
I ruled, I judged, I guided many a land;
I found, I won, I left a glorious name;
Great cares I entertained, great projects planned;
I fought, and victory to my banners came;
I lifted whom I would to high command;
Rare matter I bequeathed for after-fame;
And under gorgeous canopies I sate,
And thrones and crowns were mine and sceptred state.
Well, leave, let go, and put this crown aside;
Strip off, renounce, forget that dignity ;
Let thy poor person unaccompanied
Make from life's farce its exit nakedly.
The purple which thou boastest of in pride
Soon by another shall invested be,
For from my harsh grasp thou wilt seek in vain
Crown, sceptre, laurel, purple, to detain.
Didst thou not give me that loved ornament?
Then what thou gavest wilt thou take away?
Ay, for it was not given, but merely lent.
And for the time thou hadst a part to play.
Thy trappings, to another to present,
I now require, and all thy rich array.
But how of wealthy seekest thou the name,
With naught to give, but what thou first must claim? What profit shall I, after all, have won,
That to the world I have enacted king?
According as 'twas well or badly done,
'T will praise or blame from the great Author bring.
Me it concerns not; knowledge take I none
What pains were thine, thy part accomplishing:
My task is only this array to claim,
For naked they must go, who naked came.
Here Nature can not her sharp grief repress,
Seeing how short is Beauty's earthly doom,
Still growing worse than what it was, and less;
I, seeking to reclaim it, seek in vain ; ·
Thou tak'st it not, nor I with it remain.
The king has left his majesty with me;
Greatness with me will leave its proud attire;
Beauty alone recovered can not be,
Since Beauty with its owner doth expire.
Look in this glass.
Where is the fair face all did once admire ?
That which I lent thee do thou now return.
It all has mouldered in the funereal urn!
There left I all sweet colors and bright hues;
Jasmines and corals I abandoned there;
There did I all my flowers, my roses lose,
And crystals there and ivory shattered were;
And that did all clear portraitures confuse,
And tarnished all clear lines and features fair;
There was eclipsed the brightness of my light;
There you will meet but darkness, dust, and night!
You, villain, what did you play?
To play the villain - start not at the name;
How should I else, seeing your fashion vain
Must for the husbandman this title frame?
He am I, whom the courtier with disdain
Treats evermore with words of scorn and shame;
He am I, though this little grieves me now,
For whom the world had still its "thee" and "thou."
Well, good or bad, with that you paid your way.
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