Of the World's Vanity [Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas]

O wreche, be war, this warld will wend thee fro,

Quhilk hes begylit mony greit estait.

Turne to thy freynd, beleif nocht in thy fo.

Sen thow mon go, be grathing to thy gait;

Remeid in tyme and rew nocht all to lait;

Provyd thy place, for thow away man pas

Out of this vaill of trubbill and dissait:

Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas.

Walk furth, pilgrame, quhill thow hes dayis licht,

Dres fra desert, draw to thy duelling place;

Speid home, for quhy anone cummis the nicht

Quhilk dois thee follow with ane ythand chaise.

Bend up thy saill and win thy port of grace,

For and the deith ourtak thee in trespas,

Than may thow say thir wourdis with "allace":

Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas.

Heir nocht abydis, heir standis nothing stabill.

This fals warld ay flittis to and fro:

Now day up bricht, now nycht als blak as sabill,

Now eb, now flude, now freynd, now cruell fo,

Now glaid, now said, now weill, now into wo,

Now cled in gold, dissolvit now in as.

So dois this warld transitorie go:

Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas.

William Dunbar

WiUiam Dunbar was born, probably in East Lothian, between 1450 and 1460. He entered the University of St. Andrews in 1475, and took his full degree in 1479. In eariy life, according to his own account, he went about from Berwick to Dover, and passed over to Calais and Picardy, preaching and alms-gathering as a Franciscan noviciate ; but he became dissatisficd with this life and does not seem to have taken the vows of the order. It has been inferred from allusions in his verse that he was for some years empioyed in connection with foreign embassies. Toward tiie close of the century we find him in attendance on the Scotch Court, a poet with an established reputation, and a continual suitor for piace. In 1500 he received from the king (James IV) a pension of ^io , raised by degrees, during the next ten years to ;^8o ? then a respectable annuity; but he never obtained the Church promotion, to which on somewhat irrelevant grounds he constantly laid claim.

More poems from same author

A Dream Discretion in Taking [In taking sowld discretioun be] In a Secret Place [Ye brek my hart, my bony ane] Of James Dog [Madame, ye heff a dangerous dog] Rule of Oneself [He rewllis weill that weill himself can gyd]

Of the World's Vanity [Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas]

More poems from same author

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