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| WHAT 1 is the worlde? A net to snare the soule; | |
| A masse of sinne; a desert of deceipt; | |
| A moment’s ioy; an age of wretched dole; | |
| A lure from grace; for flesh a lothsome baite; | |
| Unto the minde a canker-worme of care, | 5 |
| Unsure, vniust, in rendring man his share: | |
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| A place where pride orerunnes the honest minde; | |
| Where rich men ioynes to rob the shiftlesse wretch; | |
| Where bribing mistes doo blinde the judges’ eyen; | |
| Where parasites the fattest crummes doo catch; | 10 |
| Where good deserts, which chalenge like reward, | |
| Are ouerblowne with blastes of light regard. | |
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| And what is man? Dust; slime; a pufe of winde; | |
| Conceiud in sinne, plaste in the world with griefe; | |
| Brought vp with care, till care hath caught his minde, | 15 |
| And then, till death vouchesafe him some reliefe, | |
| Day, yea, nor night, his care doth take no end, | |
| To gather goodes for other men to spend. | |
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| Oh foolish man, that art in office plaste, | |
| Thinke whence thou camst and whether thou shalt goe! | 20 |
| The hautie okes small winds haue ouercast, | |
| When slender weedes in roughest weather growe. | |
| Euen so pale death oft spares the wretched wight, | |
| And woundeth you who wallowe in delight. * * * * * | |
