Classic Poem

a Fable imitated from Sir Roger L'Estrange

Two long had loved, and now the nymph desired
The cloak of wedlock, as the case required;
Urged that the day he wrought her to this sorrow,
He vowed that he would marry her to-morrow.
Again he swears, to shun the present storm,
That he to-morrow will that vow perform.
The morrows in their due succession came;
Impatient still on each, the pregnant dame
Urged him to keep his word, and still he swore the same.
When tired at length, and meaning no redress,
But yet the lie not caring to confess,
He for his oath this salvo chose to borrow,
That he was free, since there was no to-morrow:
For when it comes in place to be employed,
'Tis then to-day: to-morrow's ne'er enjoyed!
The tale's a jest, the moral is a truth:
To-morrow and to-morrow cheat our youth.
 In riper age, to-morrow still we cry,
Not thinking that the present day we die,
Unpractised all the good we had designed:
There's no to-morrow to a willing mind.