Had It Lived Long, Is Would Have

How Vainly Men Themselves Amaze, / To Win The Palm, The Oak, Or Bays; / And Their Incessant Labours See / Crowned From Some Single Herb Or Tree.

But At My Back I Always Hear Time's Winged Chariot Hurrying Near.

My Mind Was Once The True Survey Of All These Meadows Fresh And Gay; And In The Greenness Of The Grass Did See Its Hopes As In A Glass.

How Could Such Sweet And Wholesome Hours Be Reckoned, But In Herbs And Flowers?

And Yonder All Before Us Lie Deserts Of Vast Eternity.