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Everyman · c. 1495

The Doctor's Epilogue

by Anonymous (Middle English) c. 13th–16th century


Doctor. This moral men may have in mind;
Ye hearers, take it of worth, old and young,
And forsake pride, for he deceiveth you in the end,
And remember Beauty, Five-wits, Strength, and Discretion,
They all at the last do Everyman forsake,
Save his Good-Deeds, there doth he take.
But beware, and they be small
Before God, he hath no help at all.
None excuse may be there for Everyman:
Alas, how shall he do then?
For after death amends may no man make,
For then mercy and pity do him forsake.
If his reckoning be not clear when he do come,
God will say--ite maledicti in ignem æternum.
And he that hath his account whole and sound,
High in heaven he shall be crowned;
Unto which place God bring us all thither
That we may live body and soul together.
Thereto help the Trinity,
Amen, say ye, for saint Charity.

MLA

Anonymous (Middle English). Everyman, The Doctor's Epilogue. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/work/everyman/2/.

Chicago

Anonymous (Middle English). Everyman, The Doctor's Epilogue. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/work/everyman/2/.

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