| Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916. | | | X. The Pity of It
Epitaph on Salathiel Pavy | | By Ben Jonson (1572–1637) |
| | | WEEP with me, all you that read | |
| This little story; | |
| And know, for whom a tear you shed, | |
| Death’s self is sorry. | |
| It was a child that so did thrive | 5 |
| In grace and feature, | |
| As Heaven and Nature seemed to strive | |
| Which owned the creature. | |
| Years he numbered scarce thirteen | |
| When fates turned cruel, | 10 |
| Yet three filled zodiacs had he been | |
| The stage’s jewel; | |
| And did act, what now we moan, | |
| Old men so duly, | |
| Ah, sooth, the Parcae thought him one— | 15 |
| He played so truly. | |
| So by error to his fate | |
| They all consented, | |
| But viewing him since, alas, too late | |
| They have repented; | 20 |
| 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. | | | | |
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