Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DYING MAN IN HIS GARDEN, by GEORGE SEWELL


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DYING MAN IN HIS GARDEN, by                    
First Line: Why, damon, with the forward day
Last Line: "but rosemary, will with thee go."
Subject(s): Death; Gardens & Gardening; Dead, The


"Why, Damon, with the forward day,
Dost thou thy little spot survey?
From tree to tree, with doubtful cheer,
Pursue the progress of the year;
What winds arise, what rains descend,
When thou before that year shalt end?

What do thy noon-day walks avail,
To clear the leaf, and pick the snail?
Then wantonly to death decree
An insect usefuller than thee?
Thou and the worm art brother-kind,
As low, as earthy, and as blind.

Vain wretch! canst thou expect to see
The downy peach make court to thee?
Or that thy sense shall ever meet
The bean-flower's deep-embosomed sweet?
Exhaling with an evening's blast,
Thy evenings then will all be past.

Thy narrow pride, thy fancied green,
(For vanity's in little seen)
All must be left when Death appears,
In spite of wishes, groans, and tears;
Nor one of all thy plants that grow,
But Rosemary, will with thee go."





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