Henry Vaughan

The Evening-Watch: a Dialogue

BODY
 
      Farewell! I go to sleep; but when
      The day—star springs, I’ll wake again.
 
              SOUL
 
      Go, sleep in peace; and when thou liest
Unnumber’d in thy dust, when all this frame
Is but one dram, and what thou now descriest
      In sev’ral parts shall want a name,
Then may his peace be with thee, and each dust
Writ in his book, who ne’er betray’d man’s trust!
 
              BODY
 
      Amen! but hark, ere we two stray
      How many hours dost think ’till day?
 
              SOUL
 
      Ah go; th’art weak, and sleepy. Heav’n
Is a plain watch, and without figures winds
All ages up; who drew this circle, even
      He fills it; days and hours are blinds.
Yet this take with thee. The last gasp of time
Is thy first breath, and man’s eternal prime.
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