Page [unnumbered]
Chapter VII.
[verse 1] WHat am I? man, oh what is man? oh nought,
What am I? nought, yes, what? sin & debate,
Three vices all in one, of one life bought,
Man am I not, what then? I am mans hate:
Yes man I am, man, because mortall, dead,
Mortalitie my guide, by mischiefe led.
Man, because like to man, man, because borne,
In birth no man, a child, child, because weake,
Weake, because weakned by ill fortunes scorne,
Scorn'd, because mortall, mortall, in wrongs reake:
My father like my selfe did liue on earth,
I like my selfe, and him, folow his birth.
[verse 2] My mothers matrice was my bodies maker,
There had I this same shape of infamies,
Shape, ah no shape, but substance mischiefes taker,
In ten months fashion; months, ah miseries,
The shame of shape, the very shape of shame,
Calamitie my selfe lament my name.
I was conceiude with seede, deceiude with sin,
Deceiude, because my seede was sins deceit,
My seede deceit, because it closde me in,
Hemd me about, for sins and mischiefes baite:
The seede of man did bring me into blood,
And now I bring my selfe, in what? no good.