Classic Poem

Life, stay; or if thou wilt not, let my Soule
Moue with thee to the Rest. Thou mouest to:
The Twyne, by which thou hangst, Time vp doth rowle
On Heau'ns round reeling Spheares, which thee vndoo:
Then o my Soule let Truth thy Vertues woo.
To ioyne their Force t'inforce th' infirmitie
Of this Lifes excesse in Deficiency.
For, truth to say, we Bee, and Bee not bothe;
Wee Bee, in show, but Bee not as wee ought:
If then wee Bee not but in show, in sooth,
Wee Are as if wee Were not, Ought and Nought
Dying as soone as wee to life are brought:
Twixt Generation, and Corruption
The Meane inclines but to destruction.
And, if we straine the Circle of our Thought
To comprehend some Essence of the same,
It is as if to catche a Shade we sought,
Or clos'd our Fist to hold the blast of Fame:
Yet, that is Aire, but Man is but in Name:
Then, looke how much a Name hath beeing found,
So, much hath Man, which is a Sound, vnsound
Vnsound it is: for, were it sound it were
That which fraile Man is nothing lesse then like;
For, Sounds haue Beeing; yea, they plaine appeare
And, on the Organs of our Hearing strike:
Of which those Organs are, with vs to seeke:
For, while the Sound resoundeth wee are gonne:
So, are wee Souds that haue not Time, nor Tone!
Then, Reason seeking for a reall Thing
Of Humane-nature, fowly is deceau'd:
Because the same hath no continuing,
But runnes hir Race ere really perceau'd:
Whose Life, of Life, is instantlie bereau'd:
A Dreame? a Shade? o no: its not so much,
A shadow of a Dreame, at most, is such.
That's the Similitude the Lord of Life
Doth vse to show our Liues vnbeeing-Beeing:
What! in the World, where all things are so rife
Is naught but Nothing to the same agreeing?
Which not appeares, nor scarse suppos'd by Seeing!
And, beeing scarse suppos'd: then it is
To Nothing next, or Nothing's like to This
And, as we cannot bathe twice in one Brooke
Sith still it runnes the same and not the same:
So, twice on our Estats we cannot looke
And see it One, so soone it alters Frame:
Wee are and are not straite, like Light'nings Flame:
At once wee go, and come: ye, go, ere come,
Which is the Summe of all of All , and Some!
And if wee liue long Lifs extremitie
Wee die as many Deathes as Ages liue:
The Life of Youth, is Death of Infancie,
The Death of Youth doth Life to Manhood giue,
So, of the rest Death rests in Lifes Depriue:
To Day dies Yesterday, to Morrow shall
This Day bee dead, and Night's their funerall!
Wee change each Day as Dayes do rise, and fall:
And, what is chang'd continues not the same:
If not the same, the same Is not at all:
For, Change transformes the Nature, and the Name.
Our Passions are as fickle, as too blame:
Now This, then That, then next to This, and That
Still changing, well I wott t' I wott not what.
Thus, is our Sence deceaud, mistaking that
Which but appeares, for that which Is, in deede
And so our Sence, our Sence, dothe Captiuate
To mis-conceit , Corrupting Fancies Creede,
Which taks Not-beeing in true Beeings steede:
For, that is truly-false what ere it is,
That is but true in Show, and so is This
To BEE, in deede, aeternall is to Bee,
To Bee aeternall, is to Bee alone:
To Bee alone, excluds the Pronowne Wee,
Yet Wee do stand by that Trin Vnion.
Though wee therewith hold no Comparison:
And yet wee looke most like that Trinity
In Vnderstanding, Will and Memorie!
Tim's like a Leaking Vessell which containes
Both Generations, and Corruptions:
The Fates (like Danaus daughters) take the paines
To fill the same, as oft as out it runnes;
From whence do flow Times daughters Slaues, and Sonnes:
And these are Tearmes that to Times Turnes agree
Before and after; Hath byn, and shall Bee
Which show that no Time (but Æternitie)
Hath Beeing; for, wee cannot say that Is
Which yet, is not; and, Now, doth cease to Bee;
Or if wee say Time Is, Time shrinks at This;
Which cannot stand to proue that Terme for His:
For NOW (the Notion, which Denoteth Time)
Is Past, while Present, and is Last, while Prime!
Then, if Time Bee, it is Past, or Future;
The Past, Is not; the Future, Beeing wants:
Because it is to come, and most vnsure,
For, Time still houers where no Beeing haunts,
Sith Time, and Beeing still are Discrepants:
Then, That (as erst was said) Eternall is
Which Is, in Deede, and only ONE is This!
Of whome it cannot properly be say'd
Hee Hath Byn, or Shall Bee: These Turnes of Time
Can neuer stand with That that's euer staid,
Yet farre aboue Times highest Turnes doth climbe,
And, is the First, and Last, and lasts in Prime:
Who by this NOW spreads his Æternitie
Vnto the boundlesse Bounds of Deitie!
For, hee is ONE, and One Is, and no more!
For, as what Is, ought to bee onely ONE:
So, onely ONE ought to Bee enermore,
Which Is, still Is, Is, only, and alone
The Cause of All, And caused is of None!
To Him, alone, that Is, and only Is
Bee only Praise, sith Praise is only His!