You watch it haste and watch it fly, Why try espy it flashing by? Now you see it, now you don't, Then you heard it ~ now you won't. First, it's here and then it's gone, Much the same for everyone. Like a cloud high in the air Glance once more and it's not there. Like a bubble drifting past, Though you know it cannot last. A tranquil breeze, the bubble stops ~ Attempt to touch! the bubble pops. Where it stems from no one knows; No one sees to where it goes. You know it's there but you can't find... As not a trace it leaves behind. But man can't beat this mighty force, To try and try he'll fail, of course; He'll never grasp the wheres and whys Quam tempus fugit ~ how time flies!