Robert Herrick. On Himself. (XIV)

ON HIMSELF. (XIV)
by Robert Herrick

A WEARIED pilgrim, I have wandered here
Twice five-and-twenty, bate me but one year ;
Long I have lasted in this world, 'tis true
But yet those years that I have lived, but few.
Who by his gray hairs doth his lusters tell,
Lives not those years, but he that lives them well.
One man has reach'd his sixty years, but he
Of all those threescore has not liv'd half three.
He lives, who lives to virtue ; men who cast
Their ends for pleasure, do not live, but last.

Luster, five years.

Source:
Herrick, Robert. Works of Robert Herrick. vol II.
Alfred Pollard, ed.
London, Lawrence & Bullen, 1891. 157-158.

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