Classic Poem

Go , heedless youth, pursue the gay delights
To which the world thy eager taste invites;
The flowry paths thy heart affects, explore;
Fantoms that charm thy wandring eyes, adore;
Dissolve in downy joys thy sensual mind:
But know, the day of vengeance is behind;
When every deed, each word, and secret thought,
Before God's own tribunal shall be brought.
O rather fly these treacherous sweets betimes;
Abandon childish follies, youthful crimes.
Devote thy blooming youth, thy verdant days,
A pious offering to thy maker's praise;
Ere time thy beauty blasts, thy verdure mows;
Ere age arrives with a long train of woes:
Left then, too late, thou of thy sins complain,
And wish to live thy days all o'er again;
But find'st thy wishes and complaints are vain;
When youthful sins torment thy aged bones,
And guilt cries loud in thy despairing groans;
When sad reflections press thy labouring soul.
And wildest terrors in thy conscience roul;
Past vitious pleasures wreck thy thoughtful mind;
Their gust all gone, their guilt all left behind.