194
A COMPARISON OF THE LIFE OF MAN.
Mans life is well compared to a feast,
Furnisht with choice of all Varietie:
To it comes Tyme;[1] and as a bidden guest
Hee sets[2] him downe, in Pompe and Maiestie;
The three-folde Age[3] of Man, the Waiters bee.
Then with an[4] earthen voyder (made of clay)
Comes Death, & takes the table clean away.
FINIS.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/The_Complete_Poems_of_Richard_Barnfield_-_p286_Endpiece.png/200px-The_Complete_Poems_of_Richard_Barnfield_-_p286_Endpiece.png)