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Edward Farr, ed. Select Poetry of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. 1845.

Address to Time

XC. A. W.

ETERNALL Time, that wastest without wast,

That art, and art not—diest, and liuest still;

Most slow of all, and yet of greatest hast;

Both ill and good, and neither good nor ill:

How can I iustly praise thee or dispraise?

Darke are thy nights, but bright and cleare thy daies.

Both free and scarce, thou giu’st and tak’st againe;

Thy wombe, that all doth breede, is tombe to all:

Whatso by thee hath life, by thee is slaine;

From thee do all things rise, to thee they fall:

Constant, inconstant; mouing, standing still:

Was, is, shall be, doe thee both breede and kill.

I lose thee, while I seek to find thee out;

The farther off, the more I follow thee;

The faster hold, the greater cause of doubt;

Was, is, I know; but shall I cannot see:

All things by thee are measured, thou by none;

All are in thee, thou in thy selfe alone.