“To the Virgins, to make much of Time”

“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old Time is still a-flying;

And this same flower that smiles to-day

To- morrow will be dying.

 

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,

the higher he’s a-getting,

The sooner will his race be run,

And nearer he’s to setting.

 

That age is best which is the first,

When youth and blood are warmer;

But being spent, the worse, and worst

Times still succeed the former.

 

Then be not coy, but use your time,

And while ye may, go marry:

For having lost but once your prime,

You may for ever tarry.”  Robert Herrick.

Islander.