The New Hampshire Gazette

On TIME.

Time is a short Parenthesis,
Placed between the two Eternities
And joins the vast unlimited Abyss,
(Eternal space) at its Extremities.
The length whereof's but a contracted span,
And one small point includes the age of man.

Each winged moment's measured by the sun,
Whilst round the earth the glittering Monarch
rides,
His golden chariot wheels like lightning run,
So day and night his constant course divides.
Each hour successive always presses on,
And whilst we speak the present moment's
gone.

Time's parent of all sublunary things,
And gives them beauty here as well as birth,
Their glory down to dissolution brings,
And monster-like devours all she brings forth.
They in the morning bloom, at noon decay,
And in the evening vanish quite away.

Thousands of victims daily fall by time
A sacrifice to her voracious jaws;
Not only men but all the world resign,
There's no reprieve allowed by nature's laws.
Inviolable laws of destiny
Ordain, that all things born shall surely die.

The stately fabric of the universe,
Wherein the worlds are wonderfully made.
Cannot endure the test of time: Alas!
They'll be worn out, & all their beauties fade
From chaos though! all things sprang up at first.
And all must be reduced to primitive dust.
Time ravishes the tender virgins young,
Whose sparkling eyes ten thousand charms display,
And maims their comely features ev'ry one,
And takes their beauteous countenance away :
For furrow'd face and wrinkled brows they'll have,
And palsy joints that tremble o'er the grave.
Oh Time ! thou dost th' artificer confound
And princely palaces are spoil'd by thee,
Defaced and prostrate on the humble ground
The ancient stately, glorious cities be.
Thou hast broke down their walls with cankerous rust
And turn'd their beauteous work to mouldering dust.