Thomas Nashe (1567–1601) was an Elizabethan poet, playwright, and fiction author. He is chiefly remembered as the author of a picaresque novel titled The Unfortunate Traveller; or, The Life of Jack Wilton (1594) and several other minor pieces. The Black Death in the fourteenth century by no means meant an end to plague outbreaks; successive outbreaks in England occurred over several successive centuries. There were outbreaks in London, for example, in 1563 and 1593. Although the date of the poem’s composition cannot be given with certainty, it was perhaps the 1593 outbreak which inspired it; Nashe was living in London at the time and would have had first-hand knowledge of it. As readers can see, there is a clear moral message here: as the plague shows, one must serve god because this life is fleeting.[1]
Adieu, farewell, earth’s bliss;
This world uncertain is;
Fond are life’s lustful joys;
Death proves them all but toys;
None from his darts can fly;
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!
Rich men, trust not in wealth,
Gold cannot buy you health;
Physic himself must fade.
All things to end are made,
The plague full swift goes by;
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!
Beauty is but a flower
Which wrinkles will devour;
Brightness falls from the air;
Queens have died young and fair;
Dust hath closed Helen’s eye.
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!
Strength stoops unto the grave,
Worms feed on Hector brave;
Swords may not fight with fate,
Earth still holds open her gate.
“Come, come!” the bells do cry.
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!
Wit with his wantonness
Tasteth death’s bitterness;
Hell’s executioner
Hath no ears for to hear
What vain art can reply.
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!
Haste, therefore, each degree,
To welcome destiny;
Heaven is our heritage,
Earth but a player’s stage;
Mount we unto the sky.
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!
[1] Taken from The Collected Works of Thomas Nashe, ed. by Alexander B. Grosart, 6 vols (London: Privately Printed, 1883–84)
Categories: 16th Century, Litany in a Time of Plague, Pandemic, Plague, poem, Poetry, Thomas Nashe