Edward Herbert. To his Watch, when he could not sleep.

Ncessant Minutes, whil'st you move
you tell
The time that tells our life, which
though it run
Never so fast or farr, you'r new
begun
Short steps shall overtake ; for though life well

May scape his own Account, it shall not yours,
You are Death's Auditors, that both divide
And summ what ere that life inspir'd endures
Past a beginning, and through you we bide

The doom of Fate, whose unrecall'd Decree
You date, bring, execute ; making what's new,
Ill and good, old, for as we die in you,
You die in Time, Time in Eternity.

Transcribed and coded by Anniina Jokinen from the Scolar Press
Facsimile of Occasional Verses of Edward Lord Herbert (1665)
Bodleian Library. Shelf-mark: Bliss. A.98. Wing H1508.
Transcription and code copyright ©1999 Anniina Jokinen.

to Lord Herbert