William Wordsworth.

To-Day

So here hath been dawning
Another blue day:
Think, wilt thou let it
Slip useless away.

Out of Eternity
This new day was born;
Into Eternity,
At night, will return.

Behold it aforetime
No eye ever did;
So soon it for ever
From all eyes is hid.

Here hath been dawning
Another blue day:
Think, wilt thou let it
Slip useless away.

Thomas Carlyle.

The Noble Nature

It is not growing like a tree
In bulk doth make Man better be;
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere:
A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May,
Although it fall and die that night,—
It was the plant and flower of Light:
In small proportions we just beauties see,
And in short measures life may perfect be.

Ben Jonson.