TO THE VIRGINS, TO MAKE MUCH OF TIME

TO THE VIRGINS, TO MAKE MUCH OF TIME

Gather ye rosebuds while you may,

Old Time is still a-flying:

And this same flower that smiles today

Tomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,

The higher he’s a-getting,

The sooner will his race be run,

And nearer he’s to setting.

That age is best which is the first,

When youth and blood are warmer;

But being spent, the worse, and worst

Times will succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,

And while ye may, go marry:

For having lost but once your prime,

You may forever tarry.

                                             Robert Herrick 1591-1674