Francis T. Palgrave, ed. (1824–1897). The Golden Treasury. 1875.
George Sewell CLXIII. The Dying Man in His GardenW
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?
To clear the leaf, and pick the snail,
Then wantonly to death decree
An insect usefuller than thee?
Thou and the worm are brother-kind,
As low, as earthy, and as blind.
The downy peach make court to thee?
Or that thy sense shall ever meet
The bean-flower’s deep-embosom’d sweet
Exhaling with an evening blast?
Thy evenings then will all be past!
(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.