| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910. | | | | Upon the Weakness and Misery of Man | | By Samuel Butler (1612–1680) |
| | | OUR pains are real things, and all | |
| Our pleasures but fantastical. | |
| Diseases of their own accord, | |
| But cures come difficult and hard. | |
| Our noblest piles and stateliest rooms | 5 |
| Are but outhouses to our tombs; | |
| Cities though ne’er so great and brave | |
| But mere warehouses to the grave. | |
| Our bravery’s but a vain disguise | |
| To hide us from the world’s dull eyes, | 10 |
| The remedy of a defect | |
| With which our nakedness is decked, | |
| Yet makes us smile with pride and boast | |
| As if we had gained by being lost. | | | | |
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