O Youths And Virgins

O youths and virgins: o declining eld:

O pale misfortune's slaves: o ye who dwell

Unknown with humble quiet; ye who wait

In courts, or fill the golden seat of kings:

O sons of sport and pleasure: o thou wretch

That weep'st for jealous love, or the sore wounds

Of conscious guilt, or death's rapacious hand

Which left thee void of hope: o ye who roam

In exile; ye who through the embattled field

Seek bright renown; or who for nobler palms

Contend, the leaders of a public cause;

Approach: behold this marble. Know ye not

The features? Hath not oft his faithful tongue

Told you the fashion of your own estate,

The secrets of your bosom? Here then, round

His monument with reverence while ye stand,

Say to each other: “This was Shakespear's form;

“Who walk'd in every path of human life,

“Felt every passion; and to all mankind

“Doth now, will ever, that experience yield

“Which his own genius only could acquire.”