So well has time kept you, my love,
Unfaded in your prime,
That you would most ungrateful prove,
If you did not keep time.
Then let this busy monitor
Remind you how the hours
Steal, brook-like, over golden sands,
Whose banks love gems with flowers.
And when the weary day grows dark,
And skies are overcast,
Watch well this token—it will bring
The morning true and fast.
This little diamond-fooled sprite,
How soft he glides along!
How quaint, yet merry, singeth he
His never-ending song!
So smoothly pass thine hours and years,
So calmly beat thy heart—
While both our souls, in concert tuned,
Nor hope nor dream apart!