"The silver swan, who living had no note,
When Death approached unlocked her silent throat.
Leaning her breast upon the reedy shore,
She sang her first and last and sang no more.
'Farewell all joys. Oh death, come close mine eyes.
More geese than swans now live, more fools than wise'."
Orlando Gibbons, first set of madrigals and motets of 5 parts (London: T. Snodham, 1612)
image © Keith Evetts 2006