The world's a bubble; and the life of man Less than a span.

-Bacon, Francis,Viscount St Albans
The World (published1629).

Our Meistersinger, thou set breath in steel; And it was thou who on the boldest heel Stood up and flung the span on even wing Of that great Bridge, our Myth, whereof I sing.

-Crane, (Harold) Hart
  On Whitman and Brooklyn Bridge. The Bridge,'Cape Hatteras'.

Wellcome, all Wonders in one sight! Eternity shut in a span. Summer in Winter, Day in Night. Heaven in Earth and God in Man.

-Crashaw, Richard
  'Hymn of the Nativity' (published1652), l.79.

I know my life's a pain and but a span, I know my sense is mocked in every thing; And to conclude, I know myself a man, Which is a proud and yet a wretched thing.

-Davies, SirJohn
  Nosce Teipsum, stanza 45.

I span and Eve span A thread to bind the heart of man!

-Gilmore, Dame MaryJean ne¤  e Mary Jean Cameron
  The Passionate Heart and Other Poems,'Eve-song'.

When God at first made man, Having a glass of blessings standing by, 'Let us,'said he,'pour on him all we can: Let the world's riches, which disperse'  d lie, Contract into a span'.

-Herbert, George
'The Pulley', collected in The Temple, Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations (published posthumously,1633).

How right it seemed that he should reach the span Of comfortable years allowed to man! Splendid to eat and sleep and choose a wife, Safe with his wound, a citizen of life. He hobbled blithely through the garden gate, And thought: 'Thank God they had to amputate!'

-Sassoon, Siegfried Louvain
  'The One-Legged Man'.