The Hesperides & Noble Numbers/Hesperides/All Things Decay and Die
69. ALL THINGS DECAY AND DIE.
All things decay with time: the forest sees
The growth and downfall of her aged trees;
That timber tall, which threescore lusters stood
The proud dictator of the state-like wood,—
I mean (the sovereign of all plants) the oak—
Droops, dies, and falls without the cleaver's stroke.
Amber, used here merely for any rich material: cp. "Treading on amber with their silver feet".
Lusters, the Roman reckoning of five years.