[Page 144]

TO Mr. William Blackbourn.

Life flies too fast to be Wasted.

Quae tegit canas modo Bruma valles
Sole vicinos jaculante montes
Deteget rursum Casimir. Lib. 2. Od. 2.
I.
1 MARK, how it Snows! how fast the Vally fills?
2 And the sweet Groves the hoary Garment wear;
3 Yet the Warm Sun-Beams bounding from the Hills
4 Shall melt the Vail away, and the young Green appear.
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II.
5 But when Old Age has drop't upon your Head
6 Her Silver Frost, there's no returning Sun;
7 Swift rolls our Autumn, swift our Summer's fled,
8 When Youth, and Love, and Spring, and Golden Joys are gone.
III.
9 Then Cold, and Winter, and your Aged Snow
10 Stick fast upon you; not the rich Array,
11 Nor the Green Garland, nor the Rosy Bough
12 Shall cancel or conceal the Melancholy Gray.
IV.
13 The Chase of Pleasure is not worth the Pains,
14 While the Bright Sands of Health run wasting down,
15 And Honour calls you from the softer Scenes
16 To sell the gaudy Hour for Ages of Renown.
V.
17 'Tis but one Youth and short that we can have,
18 And one Old Age dissolves our feeble Frame;
19 But there's a Heavenly Art t' elude the Grave,
20 And with the Heroe-Race Immortal Kindred claim.
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VI.
21 The Man that has his Countries Sacred Tears
22 To drop upon his Herse, has liv'd his Day:
23 Thus, BLACKBOURN, we should leave our Names our Heirs;
24 Old Time and waning Moons sweep all the rest away.

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Title (in Source Edition): TO Mr. William Blackbourn.
Author: Isaac Watts
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Genres: address

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Watts, Isaac, 1674-1748. Horæ lyricæ: Poems, chiefly of the lyric kind. In two books. ... By I. Watts. London: Printed by S. and D. Bridge, for John Lawrence at the Sign of the Angel in the Poultrey. MDCCVI., 1706, pp. 144-146. [20],267,[1]p.; 8⁰. (ESTC T82397; OTA K067329.000) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Princeton Theological Seminary Library.)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

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