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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A SONNET by ORANGE WILLIS WINKFIELD

First Line: SWIFT-FOOTED TIME, LET ME NOT WEEP FOR THEE
Last Line: AND GAIN BY DEFEAT THE LAURELS I MAY.
Subject(s): MONASTERIES; SONNET (AS LITERARY FORM); ABBEYS;

@3Swift-footed time, let me not weep for thee@1
In murmur-complaint of holding too late
The rosebud opportunity that be,
Which if I pluck would bloom fragrant my fate.
Nor shall I envy time coming too soon,
If I do naught save work of love and cheer,
With devotion, night, and morning, and noon
Meeting each appointment throughout the year.
Let me not crave to change despotic time,
Nor question his destiny among men;
For he commands the Worlds to move in line,
And records the work of stars with his pen;
So I surrender to the monarch's sway
And gain by defeat the laurels I may.



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