| Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916. | | | XXIX. The Happy Dead
Threnos | | By William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
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BEAUTY, truth, and rarity, | |
| Grace in all simplicity, | |
| Here enclos’d in cinders lie. | |
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| Death is now the phœnix’ nest; | |
| And the turtle’s loyal breast | 5 |
| To eternity doth rest, | |
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| Leaving no posterity: | |
| ’Twas not their infirmity, | |
| It was married chastity. | |
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| Truth may seem, but cannot be; | 10 |
| Beauty brag, but ’tis not she; | |
| Truth and beauty buried be. | |
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| To this urn let those repair | |
| That are either true or fair; | |
| For these dead birds sigh a prayer. | 15 | | |
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