Page:The works of Anne Bradstreet in prose and verse.djvu/462

 376 Anne Brad ft reefs Works.

18

When I behold the heavens as in their prime, And then the earth (though old) ftil clad in green, The Itones and trees, infenfible of time, Nor age nor wrinkle on their front are feen; If winter come, and greenefs then do fade, A Spring returns, and they more youthfull made; But Man grows old, lies down, remains where once he's laid.

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By birth more noble then thofe creatures all.

Yet feems by nature and by cuftome curs'd.

No fooner born, but grief and care makes fall

That Itate obliterate he had at firft:

Nor youth, nor ftrength, nor wifdom fpring again

Nor habitations long their names retain.

But in oblivion to the final day remain.

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Shall I then praife the heavens, the trees, the earth Becaufe their beauty and their ftrength laft longer Shall I wifti there, or never to had birth, Becaufe they're bigger, & their bodyes ftronger? Nay, they fhall darken, perifti, fade and dye. And when unmade, fo ever fhall they lye. But man was made for endlefs immortality.

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