As pale and wan as ashes was his looke,
2 His bodie leane and meagre as a rake,
And skin all withered like a dryed rooke,
4 Thereto as cold and drery as a Snake,
That seem'd to tremble euermore, and quake:
6 All in a canuas thin he was bedight,
And girded with a belt of twisted brake,
8 Vpon his head he wore an Helmet light,
Made of a dead mans skull, that seem'd a ghastly sight.
1 As pale and wan as ashes was his look, 2 His body lean and meagre as a rake,
meagre > emaciated
3 And skin all withered like a dried rook,
rook > (A sort of crow, Corvus frugilegus, nesting communally around farmsteads; the partly feathered squabs were formerly much taken as food, sometimes being dried and put in store)
4 Thereto as cold and dreary as a snake,
Thereto > Moreover, also dreary > dreadful, grim
5 That seemed to tremble evermore, and quake: 6 All in a canvas thin he was bedight,
bedight > arrayed; hence: clad
7 And girded with a belt of twisted brake;