Poems and Extracts/Funeral Dirge for Marcello

by John Webster

Funeral Dirge for Marcello

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(His Mother sings it)

Call for the Robin-red-breast, and the Wren,
Since o'er shady groves they hover,
And with leaves and flowers do cover
The friendless bodies of unburied men.
Call to his funeral dole
The Ant the field-mouse, and the mole,
To raise him hillocks that shall keep him warm,
And when gay tombs are robb'd sustain no harm;
But keep the Wolf far hence that's foe to men
For with his nails hell dig them up again.10

John Webster.

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