Classic Poem

Now , young man, thy days and thy glories appear
Like sunshine and blossoms in spring of the year;
Thy vigour of body, thy spirits, thy wit
Are perfect, and sound, and untroubléd yet:
Now then, oh now then, if safety thou love,
Mind thou, oh mind thou, thy Maker above.

Misspend not a morning so excellent clear;
Never, for ever, was happiness here.
Thy noontide of life hath but little delight,
And sorrows on sorrows will follow at night:
Now then, oh now then, if safety thou love,
Mind thou, oh mind thou, thy Maker above.

That strength and those beauties that grace thee to-day,
To-morrow may perish and vanish away;
Thy wealth, or thy pleasures, or friends that now be
May waste, or deceive, or be traitors to thee:
Now then, oh now then, if safety thou love,
Mind thou, oh mind thou, thy Maker above.

Thy joints are yet nimble, thy sinews unslack,
And marrow unwasted doth strengthen thy back;
Thy youth from diseases preserveth the brain,
And blood with free passage plumps every vein:
Now then, oh now then, if safety thou love,
Mind thou, oh mind thou, thy Maker above.

But trust me, it will not for ever be so;
Those arms that are mighty shall feebler grow,
And those legs so proudly supporting thee now,
With age or diseases will stagger and bow:
Now then, oh now then, if safety thou love,
Mind thou, oh mind thou, thy Maker above.

Then all those rare features now graceful in thee
Shall ploughed with time's furrows quite ruinéd be;
And they who admiréd and loved thee so much,
Shall loath or forget thou hadst ever been such:
Now then, oh now then, if safety thou love,
Mind thou, oh mind thou, thy Maker above.

Those tresses of hair which thy youth do adorn,
Will look like the meads in a winterly morn;
And where red and white intermixéd did grow,
Dull paleness a deadly complexion will show:
Now then, oh now then, if safety thou love.
Mind thou, oh mind thou, thy Maker above.

That forehead imperious whereon we now view
A smoothness and whiteness enamelled with blue,
Will lose that perfection which now youth maintains,
And change it for hollowness, wrinkles, and stains:
Now then, oh now then, if safety thou love,
Mind thou, oh mind thou, thy Maker above.

Those ears thou with music didst oft entertain,
And charm with so many a delicate strain,
May miss of those pleasures wherewith they are fed
And never hear song more when youth is once fled:
Now then, oh now then, if safety thou love,
Mind thou, oh mind thou, thy Maker above.

Those eyes which so many so much did admire,
And with strange affections set thousands on fire,
Shut up in that darkness which age will constrain,
Shall never see mortal, no, never again:
Now then, oh now then, if safety thou love,
Mind thou, oh mind thou, thy Maker above.

Those lips whereon beauty so fully discloses
The colour and sweetness of rubies and roses,
Instead of that hue will ghastliness wear,
And none shall believe what perfection was there:
Now then, oh now then, if safety thou love.
Mind thou, oh mind thou, thy Maker above.

Thy teeth that stood firmly like pearls in a row,
Shall, rotten and scattered, disorderly grow:
The mouth whose proportion earth's wonder was thought,
Shall, robbed of that sweetness, be prizéd at nought:
Now then, oh now then, if safety thou love,
Mind thou, oh mind thou, thy Maker above.

That gait and those gestures that win thee such grace,
Will turn to a feeble and staggering pace;
And thou, that o'er mountains rann'st nimbly to-day,
Shalt stumble at every rub in the way:
Now then, oh now then, if safety thou love,
Mind thou, oh mind thou, thy Maker above.

By these imperfections old age will prevail,
Thy marrow, thy sinews, and spirits will fail;
And nothing is left thee, when those are once spent,
To give or thyself or another content:
Now then, oh now then, if safety thou love,
Mind thou, oh mind thou, thy Maker above.

Those fancies that full thee with dreams of delight
Will trouble thy quiet the comfortless night;
And thou that now sleepest thy troubles away,
Shalt hear how each cockrel gives warning of day:
Now then, oh now then, if safety thou love,
Mind thou, oh mind thou, thy Maker above.

Then thou that to-day art to thousands so dear,
Of all shall despised, or neglected appear;
Which when thou perceiv'st, though now pleasant it be,
Thy life will be grievous and loathsome to thee:
Now then, oh now then, if safety thou love,
Mind thou, oh mind thou, thy Maker above.

That lust which thy youth can so hardly forego,
Will leave thee—and leave thee repentance and woe;
And then in thy folly no joy thou canst have,
Nor hope other rest than a comfortless grave:
Now then, oh now then, if safety thou love,
Mind thou, oh mind thou, thy Maker above.

For next shall thy breath be quite taken away,
Thy flesh turned to dust, and that dust turned to clay;
And those thou hast lovéd and shared of thy store,
Shall leave thee, forget thee, and mind thee no more:
Now then, oh now then, if safety thou love,
Mind thou, oh mind thou, thy Maker above.

And yet if in time thou remember not this,
The slenderest part of thy sorrow it is;
Thy soul to a torture more fearful shall wend
Hath ever, and ever, and never an end:
Now then, oh now then, if safety thou love,
Mind thou, oh mind thou, thy Maker above.