Eternal Time, that Wastest Without Waste
Eternal Time, that Wastest Without Waste
Original Text
Francis Davison, A poetical rhapsody containing diverse sonnets, odes, [etc.]. V. S. for J. Baily, 1602. STC 6373. Ed. H. E. Rollins. Harvard University Press, 1931-32.
1Eternal Time, that wastest without waste,
2 That art and art not, diest, and livest still;
3Most slow of all, and yet of greatest haste;
4 Both ill and good, and neither good nor ill:
5 How can I justly praise thee, or dispraise?
6 Dark are thy nights, but bright and clear thy days.
7Both free and scarce, thou giv'st and tak'st again;
8 Thy womb that all doth breed, is tomb to all;
9What so by thee hath life, by thee is slain;
10 From thee do all things rise, by thee they fall:
11 Constant, inconstant, moving, standing still;
12 Was, Is, Shall be, do thee both breed and kill.
13I lose thee, while I seek to find thee out;
14 The farther off, the more I follow thee;
15The faster hold, the greater cause of doubt;
16 Was, Is, I know; but Shall, I cannot see.
17 All things by thee are measur'd; thou, by none:
18 All are in thee; thou, in thyself alone.
Publication Start Year
1602
RPO poem Editors
N. J. Endicott
RPO Edition
2RP.1.235.
Rhyme