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Shilpa KarhikChidiock Tichborne
May 26th 2006 07:50
TICHBORNE'S ELEGY
by Chidiock Tichborne (1558 - 1586)
My prime of youth is but a frost of cares,
My feast of joy is but a dish of pain,
My crop of corn is but a field of tares,
And all my good is but vain hope of gain;
The day is past, and yet I saw no sun,
And now I live, and now my life is done.
My tale was heard and yet it was not told,
My fruit is fallen, and yet my leaves are green,
My youth is spent and yet I am not old,
I saw the world and yet I was not seen;
My thread is cut and yet it is not spun,
And now I live, and now my life is done.
I sought my death and found it in my womb,
I looked for life and saw it was a shade,
I trod the earth and knew it was my tomb,
And now I die, and now I was but made;
My glass is full, and now my glass is run,
And now I live, and now my life is done.
Chidiock Tichborne was an English poet who conspired to murder Queen Elizabeth, and have her replaced with Queen Mary of Scotland, a Catholic. Queen Elizabeth, a Protestant, had been excommunicated by the Pope and she made Catholicism illegal in England. When the conspiracy (known as the Babington Plot) was exposed, most of the conspirators escaped, but Tichborne did not and was sentenced to death with the thirteen others who were also caught. Tichborne and six others suffered a particularly gruesome death, being disemboweled while still alive on the gallows, to deter others from conspiring against the Queen. In the hours leading up to the execution, Tichborne wrote this elegy for himself.
by Chidiock Tichborne (1558 - 1586)
My prime of youth is but a frost of cares,
My feast of joy is but a dish of pain,
My crop of corn is but a field of tares,
And all my good is but vain hope of gain;
The day is past, and yet I saw no sun,
And now I live, and now my life is done.
My tale was heard and yet it was not told,
My fruit is fallen, and yet my leaves are green,
My youth is spent and yet I am not old,
I saw the world and yet I was not seen;
My thread is cut and yet it is not spun,
And now I live, and now my life is done.
I sought my death and found it in my womb,
I looked for life and saw it was a shade,
I trod the earth and knew it was my tomb,
And now I die, and now I was but made;
My glass is full, and now my glass is run,
And now I live, and now my life is done.
Chidiock Tichborne was an English poet who conspired to murder Queen Elizabeth, and have her replaced with Queen Mary of Scotland, a Catholic. Queen Elizabeth, a Protestant, had been excommunicated by the Pope and she made Catholicism illegal in England. When the conspiracy (known as the Babington Plot) was exposed, most of the conspirators escaped, but Tichborne did not and was sentenced to death with the thirteen others who were also caught. Tichborne and six others suffered a particularly gruesome death, being disemboweled while still alive on the gallows, to deter others from conspiring against the Queen. In the hours leading up to the execution, Tichborne wrote this elegy for himself.
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