Moments and minutes, hours and days,
To weeks, and months, and years amount;
Not one beyond its date delays:
For these we each must soon account.
205
How well, how ill, howe'er employ'd,
Our health, our strength, our talents lent;
All we have suffer'd and enjoy'd,
In wisdom or in folly spent:--
The secret things in darkness seal'd,
All we have felt, thought, spoken, done;
In heaven's pure light must be reveal'd,
When time's last act puts out the sun.
With every twinkling of an eye,
With every step, pulse, motion, breath;
The longest human life draws nigh,
And nigher to the gates of death.
The past we never can recall,
The present none has power to hold;
The future is not--few of all
The millions born on earth grow old.
What, then, are we, and whither bent?
Our Saviour calls--let us obey;
This moment, minute, hour, repent,
And live for ever from this day.
Text Information | |
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First Line: | Moments and minutes, hours and days |
Title: | Moments and minutes, hours and days |
Author: | James Montgomery |
Meter: | 8.8.8.8 |
Language: | English |
Publication Date: | 1854 |
Topic: | Lapse and improvement of time |
Notes: | Public Domain. |