ADDITIONAL VERSES.
We cling to life for fear that we,
When life is gone should cease to be.
When the shadows flee away,
God give thee rest ’til break of day.
Without a pencil or a pen,
I trace the hours of light for men.
He only can be called a friend,
Who keeps the same unto the end.
The greatest maxim I can give,
Is make the most of hours you live.
I fear for thee, lest all hours given,
Pave not a road that leads to Heaven.
O blame not time if thou art poor,
For who knows what it holds in store.
Fresh hours and troubles never greet,
Ere you have spent these moments sweet.
Second by second each hour is paid,
And little by little fortunes are made.
Life is a wind, a shadow, and dust,
Man is a mortal and perish he must.
Two forces man may not deride,
The flight of time and strength of tide.
First recognize that life is short.
Then live each day as all men ought.
God through the senses gives to all,
Proofs of time’s flight men may recall.
None so blind as those who will not see,
Remember this when next you look at me.
Hours there are most men would recall,
But few of us ask the return of them all.
O never fear an hour of loss,
That takes its shadow from the cross.
Passenger, follow my flight and know,
A journey like me you soon must go.
Live, O live, to all I cry,
Live, remembering ye must die.
Just like the clouds I too drift by,
Formed and reformed incessantly.
Mortal, ever strive to learn,
Thou art from dust, and must return.
Through the hours of life men should,
Learn to take bad with the good.
Since life’s as short as all men say,
Mortal, do not waste a day.
Early to bed and early to rise,
Sees the sun set and lighten the skies.
A good-bye never, mortals, say,
Since we must meet another day.
Ere thy sunny hours do cease,
Patience learn and be at peace.
Remember whilst you have your prime,
To get good value for your time.
Note ye blessings that I bring,
Ere these fleeting hours take wing.
Since no man e’er can live for naught,
See that you live e’en as you ought.
Hour by hour I yearly strive,
To show to men this dial’s alive.
If life’s chances you ignore,
Blame but yourself when you are poor.
O haste before the end of day
Impedes your work or stops your play.
O happy land rejoice and sing,
God bless the day, long live the King.
Have patience like me, and never complain,
When asked the same question again and again.
Our life’s a bubble, hold it who can,
For it goes with the wind, like the breath of man.
Troubles, what are they? Clouds that must come,
Blessings disguised, experience the sum.
O strive each man like new mown hay,
To hold those gifts that pass away.
I live in the present, a past I recall,
But my future depends on the strength of this wall.
Haste, O haste, for ’twill soon be to-morrow,
And hours that we waste bring days of sorrow.
Good fortune, like these hours, will soon be past,
So make the most of such while it doth last.
He who made the sun, made too the shade,
Let not life’s shadows anyone hide Him who made.
Since He who gives can also take away,
Let every man who lives go watch and pray.
Within the sight of all I hourly stand,
To praise, reproach, and teach throughout the land.
Go, take your time is truly said,
For we when gone are a long while dead.
Let thy thoughts now dwell on the present you see,
Not a past or a future continually.
Year in, year out, silent the hours of day I tell,
Nor vex like noisy clock or loudly chiming bell.
Hours misspent I’d liken to weeds,
With minutes for roots and seconds for seeds.
He who starts each day with doubts or fears,
Seldom smiles and is full of tears.
A circle, a gnomon, a shadow, a look,
Are worth more to men than the leaves of a book.
Time tests our friends, and soon doth teach
The value of their love and speech.
Frail mortal, tell me, who hath power
To stop ye tide or check ye hour?
He is thrice wise, and he thrice blessed,
Who portions out work, play, and rest.
Though clouds may dull both hour and day,
Love like the sun endures for aye.
Time tests our friends and soon doth show
Which is the friend and which the foe.
Death can never lose its sting,
Whilst we fear time on the wing.
I live an example to man and youth,
Of patient consistence, brightness, and truth.
He who waits for something to turn up,
Fills not the platter nor yet the cup.
The sun, the source of heat and light,
Gives flowers their scent and colour bright.
They the thread of life entangle,
Who guilty are of endless wrangle.
What’s the time? Come, why do you ask?
Is it to start or end your task?
The thread of life, though thick and strong,
Fates shall sever for thee ere long.
Who goes early to bed and early to rise,
Needs naught but the sun to lighten the skies.
Go, live and let live while you’ve power,
For life is but a thing of hour.
What we sow in time we reap in Eternity,
Seek help then Divine, Christian fraternity.
No man may ever my hours deride,
Who has lost by such, train, horse, or tide.
The age of this dial, who can compute it?
So hazard no guess for men to refute it.
Work so hard to-day that you
Will find the morrow with less to do.
Like the print of feet on the sand or snow,
This shadow reveals where the sun doth go.
Remember, an old age shall tell,
Of hours misspent and hours lived well.
If for you this hour prove late,
Do not hesitate or wait.
The most important thing on earth
Is of time to learn the worth.
Valued chances never waste
Through thoughtless and imprudent haste.
I tell the time of day, ’tis true,
Yet mind my business; pray, do you?
Time proves our work, so do not try
To hide your faults or time defy.
Remember when ’tis darkest night,
The dawn will shortly be in sight.
Hold not Thy hand, grant us’ true light,
Let Thy command make all things bright.
Thy neighbour’s landmark, so now mind,
Who moveth me a curse will find.
If, like some, I went the pace,
Who would study then my face.
A shadow rules our lives sublime,
And takes the ancient name of time.
Some men delight to weigh the showers,
But few attempt to weigh the hours.
Wait a moment never say,
When hours you mean, or chance the day.
Time was made for slaves, men say,
Yet free men ask the time of day.
Though every hour thou readest well,
Thy final hour thou canst not tell.
If of life you’d take your fill,
Never work another ill.
When the hours have ceased to run,
’Tis man, not Time, whose race is done.
Like smoke, my hours are quickly gone,
With only ashes left to mourn.
Scarce with a smile I greet anew,
Ere I do bid again adieu.
The shadows rise, the shadows fall,
Man sees but part, though God sees all.
Husband thy hours with due care,
For thus shalt thou extend the year.
I govern all things by a measure,
And keep the time in work and pleasure.
Learn to borrow of the sun,
Ere the night engulfs each one.
Without the light the sun doth give,
Not many men would care to live.
The hours and minutes I ever renew,
Like glorious rain or fall of the dew.
I work for the sun and man alone,
By marking the hours upon this stone.
Learn, like me, to waste no time,
Words are empty, actions climb.
Man made this dial, with gnomon to plan
A shadow in time to govern the man.
Go, save thy time and mend thy ways,
And thus prolong thy length of days.
Come, learn the hour I have to tell,
For like a friend I greet you well.
Mortal, mortal, tell me why,
You would live midst hours that die?
All men equality shall know,
When time for each has ceased to flow.
Go, use the time as all men ought,
A guide to life and food for thought.
The hours of life will soon be passed,
So live this day as if thy last.
With certain seasons there is power,
To alter the dials by minutes each hour.
Good work ennobles everyone,
And stands the test of time and sun.
Learn, dear child, this one great truth,
That all our love outlives our youth.
Thy days are numbered, but by me
Are only marked bright hours you see.
When on me the hour you find,
Traveller, traveller, know your mind.
Man’s greatest friend’s his mother,
Next this dial, then any other.
Since hours to come are all in sight,
O haste then while you have the light.
The shades of night shall end the day,
And drive the shade of light away.
Man how to spend these hours proposes.
But God alone my time disposes.
Mark my shadow ere ’tis past,
Not thy first, though chance thy last.
Like a builder work and pray
That all thy best outlives thy day.
Let progress be thy motto bright,
Forward thy watchword, while ’tis light.
Faith I teach through hours I give,
And men trust me while they live.
I show the road to health this way,
By ending work at close of day.
God’s greatest gift to man is thine,
To read the hour when sun doth shine.
The greatest conquerors in strife,
Is time, then love the light of life.
These hours that please or that pain,
Shall never by man be lived again.
Let not thoughts of time depress,
A heart that owes but thankfulness.
Shine, sun, and let thy radiance bright
Disperse the gloomy shades of night.
Time hastens on an end too near,
And friends grow dearer every year.
Should with this day a sorrow come,
All hours, remember, gladden some.
My shadow keeps the time-worn track,
Moving forward, but never back.
Our time’s so short that all men should,
Both start and end each day with good.
God fill thy cup brim full of joy,
And send thee hours that never cloy.
To-morrow, men too often say,
Forgetful that it is to-day.
By shadow through the sun’s bright rays,
Every day God’s name I praise.
Leave sometimes the cares that kill,
Seek the wood and seek the rill.
Procrastination is a thief,
That robs us of a pledged relief.
Where the light of heaven rules,
Time’s neglected but by fools.
Go, kill the hour and waste the day,
But count the forfeit you must pay.
Behold my shadow on this wall,
Warning to some and guide to all.
Amidst the flowers of earth I stand,
Ever at the sun’s command.
I bring life and I bring breath,
I bring shade and I bring death.
Hours that come are hours that go,
Waste not then the hours I show.
Gold that called me into being,
Cannot regulate time fleeing.
With my gnomon I have power,
To mark ye sun and tell ye hour.
I remind of what is best,
Hours of work and hours of rest.
Without the sun I silent keep,
Ever watchful, ne’er asleep.
Ere each day doth end Time’s path,
Gather up some aftermath.
When the clouds of life have gone,
Sun remains for every one.
On your behalf the hours I tell,
For others, too, who note me well.
No one shall ever say of me,
I marked a clouded hour to thee.
Let the morrow ever find,
You’ve advanced, not lagged behind.
Like me, go work without a fuss,
For we are labourers, both of us.
Time passes silently away,
By minutes, hours, and then the day.
Let sun’s declining rays now teach,
A greater lesson than I preach.
Come, mortal, own this hour to be,
A gift to frail humanity.
Care and fear storm clouds never,
Hide the sun for long or ever.
True love, a circle, and the sun,
Are not excelled, own equals none.
He indeed shall happy be,
Who makes the most of hours you see.
If time by speech I could but tell,
You, noisy cockerel, I’d excel.
Each one alive some folk deride,
And even me when sun doth hide.
Without ye gnomon who can tell,
Upon this dial where sunlight fell?
Good luck, just like a summer’s sun,
Lies in the path of everyone.
Man need never darkness know,
Who early to rise and sleep doth go.
Traveller, take a look and see,
I change each minute more than thee.
With the rising sun I wake,
And side by side our course we take.
To-day is thine what God hath given,
To-morrow may be first day’s heaven.
He who sleeps both night and day,
The cost of idleness must pay.
To waste thy time is bad enough,
But that of others, mortal, rough.
Man, treat me with reverence,
With time there’s no severance.
I mark the hours as they come,
But weary no man with the sum.
Know the hour and thy mind,
Thus fresh power you will find.
Mark this hour and ere it dies,
Let thy heart to Heaven rise.
I am governed by the light,
Man a shadow ’til the night.
He who notes not hours or days,
Time shall suddenly amaze.
In your joy or in your sorrow,
Sympathy from me come borrow.
I’ve been ever taught to prove,
Time’s eternal, so is love.
I live a parable to all,
Who note my shadow on this wall.
I do my duty and I mark,
The hours and minutes until dark.
Pass on, like me, and let the day,
Help thee further on thy way.
Find in me a faithful friend,
True and steadfast to the end.
If but rightly understood,
All God’s earthly gifts are good.
Since Nature doth the seasons show,
I only mark the hours that go.
Every hour, each plant and flower,
Gives reality to immortality.
I live for ever, having done
A work that’s worthy of the sun.
Act thou like a shaft of light,
Ere the chance is out of sight.
I am only in disgrace.
When the sun doth hide his face.
Some evil you indeed must flee,
If I become your enemy.
May thy record in Heaven,
Be like hours that I’ve given.
The bright days only I record,
But all are noted by the Lord.
Like the flowers, ever try
To catch the sun ere it go by.
Take thy pleasure when you may,
But to-day’s work do to-day.
An hour never try to kill,
For I can do that at my will.
About the day I will not jest,
But simply ask men for their best.
He who made me I will show,
Helped his fellows here below.
If from my shadow you can learn,
Do not then such wisdom spurn.
Like the bee, go, hourly strive,
Lest you find an empty hive.
I fly, I walk, I run, I crawl,
Yet own no wings or legs at all.
My dial is a picture rare,
On which the lives of all appear.
A clock or bell a lie may tell,
I never, if the sun shines well.
I’m fast to some,
Who’ve naught to come.
Ye sunniest hour,
Is ye life of a flower.
The greatest gift supernal,
Is love eternal.
Since I never lose,
A fresh excuse go choose.
Keep working,
No shirking.
The hours of night
Are well in sight.
Halt ye and learn,
Then quickly turn.
Speed high, speed low,
I swiftly go.
When night doth flee,
Men look at me.
Our end gets nearer.
And time grows dearer.
Ere the day doth flee,
Lord, remember me.
Go live thy day,
But watch and pray.
Go, mortals befriend,
Like me to the end.
At each daybreak,
My course I take.
Halt not or stay,
’Til close of day.
Ye hour of prayer,
Is always here.
Slow but sure,
Who wants more?
To enjoy thy days,
Heed thy ways.
Live and defy,
All hours that fly.
Mortal beware,
Of time take care.
Well done,
Go up one.
Time flies,
The day dies.
Sorrow and song,
I bear along.
What e’er betide,
Dear Lord provide.
Pray ye for light,
Pray ye aright.
The hours of day,
Soon pass away.
No rain, no flowers,
No sun, no hours.
Do not forget me,
Lest you regret me.
Though pace is slow,
Yet fast I go.
Go, know man time,
By gnomon mine.
Always using it,
Never abusing it.
A life well spent,
Brings no lament.
I only mark the time of day,
But man how much has passed away.
My hours used well are going to be,
Thy passport through eternity.
Learn, like me, to give and take,
In silence and no noise to make.
Ye watch this dial my speed to prove,
Yet cannot see me make a move.
Things come in cycles, so men say,
But who shall view a yesterday?
My use and value unto you,
Is gauged by what you have to do.
I regulate the lives of all,
That walk, or run, or fly, or crawl.
He the longest life shall live,
Who makes the most of hours I give.
The shades of night my dial enfold,
Like a story that is told.
Earn thou thy rest,
So shall each hour improved by thee,
Bring what is best continually.
