On Time



Fly, envious Time, till thou run out thy race,
Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours,
Whose speed is but the heavy plummet's pace;
And glut thyself with what thy womb devours,
Which is no more than what is false and vain,
And merely mortal dross;
So little is our loss,
So little is thy gain.
For when as each thing bad thou hast intombed,
And last of all thy greedy self consumed,
Then long Eternity shall greet our bliss
With an individual kiss,
And Joy shall overtake us as a flood;
When every thing that is sincerely good
And perfectly divine,
With truth, and peace, and love, shall ever shine
About the supreme throne
Of Him, t' whose happy-making sight alone
When once our heav'nly-guided soul shall climb,
Then, all this earthly grossness quit,
Attired with stars, we shall for ever sit,
Triumphing over Death, and Chance, and thee, O Time.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 24, 2023

46 sec read
205

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCDDCEEFFEEGGHHIEEI
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 835
Words 153
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 22

John Milton

John Milton was the Secretary of State of Georgia from 1777 to 1799. more…

All John Milton poems | John Milton Books

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