Friday Poetry Blogging - No Matter What Blogsome Says, it’s Still Friday Here Edition
Augustienne and I saw The Libertine last weekend. The film itself wasn’t an all-time great but Johnny Depp’s performance was, as usual, jaw-dropping, especially while portraying John Wilmot’s utter self-destruction. But he was a damn good poet.
A Fragment of Seneca Translated - John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
After Death nothing is, and nothing, death,
The utmost limit of a gasp of breath.
Let the ambitious zealot lay aside
His hopes of heaven, whose faith is but his pride;
Let slavish souls lay by their fear
Nor be concerned which way nor where
After this life they shall be hurled.
Dead, we become the lumber of the world,
And to that mass of matter shall be swept
Where things destroyed with things unborn are kept.
Devouring time swallows us whole.
Impartial death confounds body and soul.
For Hell and the foul fiend that rules
God’s everlasting fiery jails
(Devised by rogues, dreaded by fools),
With his grim, grisly dog that keeps the door,
Are senseless stories, idle tales,
Dreams, whimsies, and no more.
