188. Call for the Robin-Redbreast. John Webster. 1909-14. English Poetry I: From Chaucer to Gray. The Harvard Classics

English Poetry I: From Chaucer to Gray.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

188. Call for the Robin-Redbreast

John Webster (1580(?)–1625(?))


CALL for the robin-redbreast and the wren,
Since o’er shady groves they hover
And with leaves and flowers do cover
The friendless bodies of unburied men.
Call unto his funeral dole	5
The ant, the field-mouse, and the mole
To rear him hillocks that shall keep him warm
And (when gay tombs are robb’d) sustain no harm;
But keep the wolf far thence, that’s foe to men,
For with his nails he’ll dig them up again.	10