Then I’ll give o’er,
And bid the world good-night.
‘Tis but a flying minute,
That I must stay,
Or linger in it:
And then I must away.
O Time, that cut’st down all,
And scarce leav’st here
Memorial
Of any men that were;
–How many lie forgot
In vaults beneath,
And piece-meal rot
Without a fame in death?
Behold this living stone
I rear for me,
Ne’er to be thrown
Down, envious Time, by thee.
Pillars let some set up
If so they please;
Here is my hope,
And my Pyramides.
That fleet of lackeys which do runBefore thy swift postilion;Those strong-hoof’d mules, which we beholdRein’d in with purple, pearl, and gold,And shed with silver, prove to beThe drawers of the axle-tree;Thy wife, thy children, and the stateOf Persian looms and antique plate:–All these, and more, shall then affordNo joy to thee, their sickly lord.
Let crutches then provided beTo shore up my debility:Then, while thou laugh’st, I’ll sighing cry,A ruin underpropt am I:Don will I then my beadsman’s gown;And when so feeble I am grownAs my weak shoulders cannot bearThe burden of a grasshopper;Yet with the bench of aged sires,When I and they keep termly fires,With my weak voice…
For every sentence, clause, and word,That’s not inlaid with Thee, my Lord,Forgive me, God, and blot each lineOut of my book, that is not Thine.But if, ‘mongst all, Thou find’st here oneWorthy thy benediction,That one of all the rest shall beThe glory of my work, and me.
And when I my sins confess,Sweet Spirit, comfort me!When I lie within my bed,Sick in heart, and sick in head,And with doubts discomforted,Sweet Spirit, comfort me!When the house doth sigh and weep,And the world is drown’d in sleep,Yet mine eyes the watch do keep,Sweet Spirit, comfort me!When the artless doctor seesNo one hope, but of…
O’er it a cobweb-lawn:And here, you see, this lily shows,Tomb’d in a crystal stone,More fair in this transparent caseThan when it grew alone,And had but single grace.You see how cream but naked is,Nor dances in the eyeWithout a strawberry;Or some fine tincture, like to this,Which draws the sight thereto,More by that wantoning with it,Than when…
