James Shirley

* * *

   (EXCEPT FROM “CUPID AND DEATH”)

Victorious men of earth, no more
	Proclaim how wide your empires are;
Though you bind-in every shore,
	And your triumphs reach as far
		As night or day, 
	Yet you, proud monarchs, must obey
And mingle with forgotten ashes, when
Death calls ye to the crowd of common men.

Devouring Famine, Plague, and War,
	Each able to undo mankind,
Death’s servile emissaries are;
	Nor to these alone confined,
		He hath at will
	More quaint and subtle ways to kill; 
A smile or kiss, as he will use the art, 
Shall have the cunning skill to break a heart.