Eternal Time, That Wastest Without Waste
Eternal Time, that wastest without waste,
That art and art not, diest, and livest still;
Most slow of all, and yet of greatest haste;
Both ill and good, and neither good nor ill:
How can I justly praise thee, or dispraise?
Dark are thy nights, but bright and clear thy days.
Both free and scarce, thou giv'st and tak'st again;
Thy womb that all doth breed, is tomb to all;
What so by thee hath life, by thee is slain;
From thee do all things rise, by thee they fall:
Constant, inconstant, moving, standing still;
Was, Is, Shall be, do thee both breed and kill.
I lose thee, while I seek to find thee out;
The farther off, the more I follow thee;
The faster hold, the greater cause of doubt;
Was, Is, I know; but Shall, I cannot see.
All things by thee are measur'd; thou, by none:
All are in thee; thou, in thyself alone.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 38 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABABCC XDXDBB EXECXX |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 812 |
Words | 159 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6 |
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"Eternal Time, That Wastest Without Waste" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/3375/eternal-time,-that-wastest-without-waste>.
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