 | [Poems by Wilde in] Richard Henry Wilde |  |
ON A SUN-DIAL NEAR VENICE
with the inscription “Horas non numero nisi serenas.”
Let others in some dreary clime
Of fogs and storms, and snows and showers,
Scan the slow lapse of lingering Time,
I only count unclouded hours.
Of fogs and storms, and snows and showers,
Scan the slow lapse of lingering Time,
I only count unclouded hours.
Beneath calm, pure, and brilliant skies,
Where all is sunshine, mirth, and flowers,
I seize each moment as it flies
And truly tell the cloudless hours.
Where all is sunshine, mirth, and flowers,
I seize each moment as it flies
And truly tell the cloudless hours.
When Heaven withdraws its cheerful ray
From pleasure's waste and leafless bowers,
I take no heed of night or day,
I only note unclouded hours.
From pleasure's waste and leafless bowers,
I take no heed of night or day,
I only note unclouded hours.
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Learn then from me this rule of life,
When Fortune smiles or danger lowers
In bliss or woe in peace or strife
Learn but to mark unclouded hours.
When Fortune smiles or danger lowers
In bliss or woe in peace or strife
Learn but to mark unclouded hours.
| [Poems by Wilde in] Richard Henry Wilde | |