The Evening-Watch: A Dialogue
The Evening-Watch: A Dialogue
Original Text
Henry Vaughan, Silex Scintillans (1650). Scolar Press, 1970. PR 3669 R2 1680AC ROBA.
1 Farewell! I go to sleep; but when
2 The day-star springs, I'll wake again.
3 Go, sleep in peace; and when thou liest
4Unnumber'd in thy dust, when all this frame
5Is but one dram, and what thou now descriest
6 In sev'ral parts shall want a name,
7Then may his peace be with thee, and each dust
8Writ in his book, who ne'er betray'd man's trust!
9 Amen! but hark, ere we two stray
10 How many hours dost think 'till day?
11 Ah go; th'art weak, and sleepy. Heav'n
12Is a plain watch, and without figures winds
13All ages up; who drew this circle, even
14 He fills it; days and hours are blinds.
15Yet this take with thee. The last gasp of time
16Is thy first breath, and man's eternal prime.
Publication Start Year
1650
RPO poem Editors
N. J. Endicott
RPO Edition
3RP 1.371-72.
Rhyme