 | Familiar letters and poems on several occasions |  |
223
Upon the first Day of the Year.
Revolving Years their steady Course persue,
The old ones still submitting to the New;
For Days to Days, and Months to Months succeed,
And Time rolls on with never-ceasing Speed.
Sun, Moon, and Stars, perform their destin'd Round,
Nature in all Things is obedient found;
Let us, admiring, mark the wond'rous Cause,
And learn from hence to keep our maker's Laws;
Frail Mortals only thwart the Will of Heav'n,
And deviate from the Rules their God has giv'n.
The old ones still submitting to the New;
For Days to Days, and Months to Months succeed,
And Time rolls on with never-ceasing Speed.
Sun, Moon, and Stars, perform their destin'd Round,
Nature in all Things is obedient found;
Let us, admiring, mark the wond'rous Cause,
And learn from hence to keep our maker's Laws;
Frail Mortals only thwart the Will of Heav'n,
And deviate from the Rules their God has giv'n.
Life wears away amidst a thousand Cares,
And Man grows old in numb'ring up the Years:
Just Emblems of himself, he sees them pass,
Beginning Spring shews what the Infant was;
And the delightful flow'ry Month of May,
Describes the blooming Boy, sweet, fresh and gay;
Maturer Summer paints him in his Prime,
And sickly Autumn his declining Time;
Bleak hoary Winter chill'd with Frosts and Snows,
In his last Stage the trembling Mortal shews.
And Man grows old in numb'ring up the Years:
Just Emblems of himself, he sees them pass,
Beginning Spring shews what the Infant was;
224
Describes the blooming Boy, sweet, fresh and gay;
Maturer Summer paints him in his Prime,
And sickly Autumn his declining Time;
Bleak hoary Winter chill'd with Frosts and Snows,
In his last Stage the trembling Mortal shews.
| Familiar letters and poems on several occasions | |