I took the marrow bone,
And beat about his head."
Old Time came unto my house of clay,
And pilfered its pride of flesh away:
I knocked at the doors of the years in vain
To ask for its goodliness again.
Old Time came unto me yet once more,
For crueller theft than he thieved before;
Stealing the very marrow and bone
That the strength of my life was builded on.