To Time
Time! on whose arbitrary wingThe varying hours must flag or fly,Whose tardy winter, fleeting spring,But drag or drive us on to die--Hail thou! who on my birth bestowedThose boons to all that know thee known;Yet better I sustain thy load,For now I bear the weight alone.I would not one fond heart should shareThe bitter moments thou hast given;And pardon thee--since thou couldst spareAll that I loved, to peace or Heaven.To them be joy or rest--on meThy future ills shall press in vain;I nothing owe but years to thee,A debt already paid in pain.Yet even that pain was some relief;It felt, but still forgot thy power:The active agony of griefRetards, but never counts the hour.In joy I've sighed to think thy flightWould soon subside from swift to slow;Thy cloud could overcast the light,But could not add a night to Woe;For then, however drear and dark,My soul was suited to thy sky;One star alone shot forth a sparkTo prove thee--not Eternity.That beam hath sunk--and now thou artA blank--a thing to count and curseThrough each dull tedious trifling part,Which all regret, yet all rehearse.One scene even thou canst not deform--The limit of thy sloth or speedWhen future wanderers bear the stormWhich we shall sleep too sound to heed.And I can smile to think how weakThine efforts shortly shall be shown,When all the vengeance thou canst wreakMust fall upon--a nameless stone.
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