quote · Legacy record
Fly, envious Time, till thou run out thy race, Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours, Whose speed is but the heavy plummet’s pace, And glut thyself with what thy womb devours, Which is no more than what is false and vain, And merely mortal dross; So little is our loss, So little is our gain. For when as each thing bad thou hast entomb’d, And last of all thy greedy self consum’d, Then long eternity shall greet our bliss With an individual kiss; And joy shall overtake us as a flood, And perfectly divine, With truth, and peace, and love, shall ever shine, About the supreme throne Of Him, to whose happy-making sight alone, When once our heavenly-guided soul shall climb, Then all this earthly grossness quit, Attir’d with stars, we shall for ever sit Triumphing over Death, and Chance, and thee, O Time!
Fly, envious Time, till thou run out thy race, Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours, Whose speed is but the heavy plummet’s pace, And glut thyself with what thy womb devours, Which is no more than what is false and vain, And merely mortal dross; So little is our loss, So little is our gain. For when as each thing bad thou hast entomb’d, And last of all thy greedy self consum’d, Then long eternity shall greet our bliss With an individual kiss; And joy shall overtake us as a flood, And perfectly divine, With truth, and peace, and love, shall ever shine, About the supreme throne Of Him, to whose happy-making sight alone, When once our heavenly-guided soul shall climb, Then all this earthly grossness quit, Attir’d with stars, we shall for ever sit Triumphing over Death, and Chance, and thee, O Time!
Approximate author period: c. 1641 AD · renaissance
Meaning not yet available
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Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- John Milton
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1641 AD · renaissance
author lifetime midpoint (1608–1674)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 605 · printed citation: Milton · subject: TIME
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.