Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A DIALOGUE BETWIXT, TIME AND A PILGRIME by AURELIAN TOWNSEND

First Line: AGED MAN, THAT MOWES THESE FIELDS
Last Line: TOGETHER TWISTS THEIR THREADS, AND YET DRAWS HERS THE LONGER.

Pilgrim: Aged man, that mowes these fields.
Time: Pilgrim, speak; what is thy will?
Pilgrim: Whose soil is this, that such sweet pasture yields?
Or who art thou, whose foot stands never still?
Or where am I?
Time: In love.
Pilgrim: His Lordship lies above.
Time: Yes, and below, and round about
Wherein all sorts of flowers are growing
Which, as the early Spring puts out,
Time falls as fast a-mowing.
Pilgrim: If thou art Time, these flowers have lives,
And then I fear
Under some lily she I love
May now be growing there.
Time: And in some thistle or some spire of grass
My scythe thy stalk before hers come may pass.
Pilgrim: Wilt thou provide it may?
Time: No.
Pilgrim: Allege the cause.
Time: Because Time cannot alter but obey Fate's laws.
Chorus: Then happy those whom Fate, that is the stronger,
Together twists their threads, and yet draws hers the longer.




Home: PoetryExplorer.net