 | Poems, Songs and Love-Verses |  |
Senex Tempus Mors & Chorus.
Sen.
Hail ancient Brother, what is in thy mind,
To count the Sand, and mow the whistling VVind?
Has age depriv'd thee of thy sense, to be
The perfect Emblem of Foolery?
Come leave this madness, do as I have done,
Cast thy old skin, and be agen as young
As is Aurora at her first up-rise,
Youthful by virtue of her Lovers Eyes.
I am all Air, there's not a part in me
But has shook off it's dull Mortality;
Prithee go run and fetch me Charles his VVain,
To hurry me o're the Celestial Plain.
O Love, Love, Love, thy strong Medean Charms
Has gave new strength and motion to my Arms.
My Legs and Thighs are able to support
The mighty Fabrick of Heavens starry Court.
To count the Sand, and mow the whistling VVind?
Has age depriv'd thee of thy sense, to be
The perfect Emblem of Foolery?
Come leave this madness, do as I have done,
Cast thy old skin, and be agen as young
As is Aurora at her first up-rise,
Youthful by virtue of her Lovers Eyes.
I am all Air, there's not a part in me
But has shook off it's dull Mortality;
Prithee go run and fetch me Charles his VVain,
To hurry me o're the Celestial Plain.
O Love, Love, Love, thy strong Medean Charms
Has gave new strength and motion to my Arms.
My Legs and Thighs are able to support
The mighty Fabrick of Heavens starry Court.
Temp.
Are you in Love?
Sen.
I am.
Temp.
With whom;
Sen.
There stay;
One that wou'd make thee throw thy Scyth away,
And break thy Glass, if thou shouldst chance to spie
One of the smallest Cupids in her Eye:
How then couldst thou resist united Charms,
Which conquer Men and Gods with their Alarms?
But let that pass, sure I have seen before
Thy Picture painted on a Usurers Door;
They call'd it Time.
One that wou'd make thee throw thy Scyth away,
And break thy Glass, if thou shouldst chance to spie
One of the smallest Cupids in her Eye:
14
Which conquer Men and Gods with their Alarms?
But let that pass, sure I have seen before
Thy Picture painted on a Usurers Door;
They call'd it Time.
Temp.
'Tis true, and I am he
Until this day regarded not by thee,
And something slightly now. Seest thou this Glass?
Thy Life and Sand in the same moment pass.
Until this day regarded not by thee,
And something slightly now. Seest thou this Glass?
Thy Life and Sand in the same moment pass.
Sen.
Thou ly'st, base Slave, though Sixty years are run,
Double their Number are as yet to come;
My active Blood runs quick, and every part
Performs it's Duty round about my Heart:
My strength at Thirty never was more great,
Nor does one part fail of it's usual heat;
All pains and groans have now forsook the Stage,
And like the Phœnix I've renew'd my Age.
Double their Number are as yet to come;
My active Blood runs quick, and every part
Performs it's Duty round about my Heart:
My strength at Thirty never was more great,
Nor does one part fail of it's usual heat;
All pains and groans have now forsook the Stage,
And like the Phœnix I've renew'd my Age.
Temp.
Fond Man, thy present State is but a Breath,
And lightsomness doth but foretel thy Death;
Just as a Lamp, when all the Oyl is spent,
Gives the last farewel to it's nourishment.
And lightsomness doth but foretel thy Death;
Just as a Lamp, when all the Oyl is spent,
Gives the last farewel to it's nourishment.
Mor.
Here ends thy Labour, thy last Thred is spun,
Embrace me silently now I am come.
You seem to wonder, doating Age, I am Death,
Come to demand this moment of thy Breath.
How soon he's gone? how silently he lyes?
When I once come, in vain are all Replies;
No Charms can stay m'inexorable Hand,
All Sexes bow the head when I command;
If I once strike, no Wards against my Blow,
Youth, Beauty, Strength, and what are priz'd below,
Are menial things, and here may please the Eye,
But Vassals-like, desert their Lords, when I
Do once appear; in vain are Prayers or Tears,
No sound of Mercy ever pierc't my Ears.
Embrace me silently now I am come.
You seem to wonder, doating Age, I am Death,
Come to demand this moment of thy Breath.
How soon he's gone? how silently he lyes?
When I once come, in vain are all Replies;
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All Sexes bow the head when I command;
If I once strike, no Wards against my Blow,
Youth, Beauty, Strength, and what are priz'd below,
Are menial things, and here may please the Eye,
But Vassals-like, desert their Lords, when I
Do once appear; in vain are Prayers or Tears,
No sound of Mercy ever pierc't my Ears.
Chor.
Then happy he who leads a life so blest,
That when thou com'st, thou only shalt devest
Of Earthly dross, whose better part shall flye,
A welcom present to the Deity;
There shall be lasting Pleasures to be found,
That he shall thank the Hand that gave the wound.
That when thou com'st, thou only shalt devest
Of Earthly dross, whose better part shall flye,
A welcom present to the Deity;
There shall be lasting Pleasures to be found,
That he shall thank the Hand that gave the wound.
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