Church-monuments
Entrusting the Body to the School of Dust
The speaker commits his flesh to the church monuments as a school to learn its true nature as dust.
While my soul turns to her devotion, here I entomb my flesh so that, in good time, it may get to know this heap of dust—to which the blast of death's unceasing motion, fed by the fumes of our crimes, drives everything at last.12 Therefore I gladly trust3 I send my body to this school, so it may learn to spell out its elements and find its birth recorded in dusty heraldry and lines—which dissolution surely reads best, comparing dust with dust, and earth with earth.4
The Futility of Memorials
The speaker reflects on how monuments that try to distinguish one dust from another are laughable, and questions what will identify them when all bow to the ground.
These laugh at jet and marble set up as signs.5 to break up the good fellowship of dust and spoil the meeting. What will point them out when they bow and kneel and fall flat to the ground to kiss those heaps they now hold in trust?6
A Lesson for the Flesh
The speaker directly addresses his flesh, urging it to learn its humble origin from the dust and to ready itself against its fall.
Dear flesh, while I pray, learn here your true origin and lineage, so that when you grow fat,✦7 and wanton in your cravings, you may know that flesh is only the glass that holds the dust that measures all our time—which will itself be crumbled into dust.✦8 Mark here below how tame these ashes are, how free from lust, so that you may ready yourself against your fall.✦9
Read the original English
WHile that my soul repairs to her devotion, Here I intombe my flesh, that it betimes May take acquaintance of this heap of dust; To which the blast of deaths incessant motion, Fed with the exhalation of our crimes, Drives all at last. Therefore I gladly trust
My bodie to this school, that it may learn To spell his elements, and finde his birth Written in dustie heraldrie and lines; Which dissolution sure doth best discern, Comparing dust with dust, and earth with earth. These laugh at Jeat, and Marble put for signes,
To sever the good fellowship of dust, And spoil the meeting. What shall point out them, When they shall bow, and kneel, and fall down flat To kisse those heaps, which now they have in trust? Deare flesh, while I do pray, learn here thy stemme And true descent; that when thou shalt grow fat,
And wanton in thy cravings, thou mayst know, That flesh is but the glasse, which holds the dust That measures all our time; which also shall Be crumbled into dust. Mark here below How tame these ashes are, how free from lust, That thou mayst fit thy self against thy fall.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Deut.32.15 — But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked — you grew fat, you grew thick, you grew sleek — and he forsook God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
- ↩Gen.3.19 — By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground, for from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
- ↩Gen.3.19 — By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground, for from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Notes
- 1 ↩Early modern 'repairs to' means goes or withdraws to a place; rendered as 'turns to' to keep the sense of deliberate retreat into prayer without archaic idiom.
- 2 ↩'Betimes' means early / in good time / before it is too late; modernized to 'in good time' per register policy against archaic diction.
- 3 ↩Sentence is deliberately incomplete in the source section break; the trust continues in the next section ('My body to this school...'). Rendering preserves the incomplete clause rather than supplying the continuation.
- 4 ↩Early modern 'his' is the body's neuter possessive ('its'). 'Spell his elements' keeps the schoolroom metaphor: learning the alphabet/first principles of its own makeup (dust and earth). 'Heraldrie and lines' are tomb inscriptions—coats of arms and genealogical lines, already dusty and themselves destined for dust.
- 5 ↩'Jeat' is jet (black funerary stone). 'These' continues the prior sentence's dusty heraldry/lines (and the dust they name): the true markers of mortality mock costly memorial materials.
- 6 ↩'them' most naturally picks up the jet and marble monuments (and the ranks they mark): once the stones themselves crumble and fall flat to kiss the dust-heaps they now keep in trust, nothing will distinguish those buried remains.
- 7 ↩'stemme' rendered as 'stock' (line of descent); paired with 'true descent' as true lineage/origin in dust, continuing the heraldry lesson of the previous section.
- 8 ↩glasse: the body as an hourglass—a vessel of dust that both measures our span of life and will itself dissolve into dust.
- 9 ↩fit thy self against thy fall: prepare or brace yourself for your fall—death and the body's return to dust, with a possible moral undertone of guarding against collapse into lust.
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