Time is no rushing torrent, dark and hoarse,
As thou hast heard from bards and sages old;
Sit here with me (wouldst thou the truth behold),
And watch the current hour run out its course.
See how without uproar or sullen force
Glides this slim shadowy rill of atom gold,
Which, when the last slow guileful grain is told,
Forever is returned unto its source!
This is Time's stream, by whose repeated fall
Unnumbered fond ones, since the world was new,
Loitered as we, unwarned of doom the while;
Wouldst think so slender stream could cover all?
But as we speak, some eddy draws us, too--
Meseems did grow thine eyes and dim thy smile!
