Sunday, August 08, 2010
I Know Myself a Man
Sir John Davies, from Nosce Teipsum, in Norman Ault, ed., Elizabethan Lyrics (New York: Capricorn Books, 1960), p. 272:
Worthington Whittredge, Retrospection
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I know my body's of so frail a kind,
As force without, fevers within, can kill;
I know the heavenly nature of my mind,
But 'tis corrupted both in wit and will.
I know my soul hath power to know all things,
Yet is she blind and ignorant of all;
I know I am one of nature's little kings,
Yet to the least and vilest things am thrall.
I know my life's a pain, and but a span;
I know my sense is mocked with everything;
And to conclude, I know myself a man,
Which is a proud, and yet a wretched thing.
