| Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900. |
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| John Milton. 1608–1674 |
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| 308. On Time |
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| FLY envious Time, till thou run out thy race, | |
| Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours, | |
| Whose speed is but the heavy Plummets pace; | |
| And glut thy self with what thy womb devours, | |
| Which is no more then what is false and vain, | 5 |
| And meerly mortal dross; | |
| So little is our loss, | |
| So little is thy gain. | |
| For when as each thing bad thou hast entomb'd, | |
| And last of all, thy greedy self consum'd, | 10 |
| Then long Eternity shall greet our bliss | |
| With an individual kiss; | |
| And Joy shall overtake us as a flood, | |
| When every thing that is sincerely good | |
| And perfectly divine, | 15 |
| With Truth, and Peace, and Love shall ever shine | |
| About the supreme Throne | |
| Of him, t'whose happy-making sight alone, | |
| When once our heav'nly-guided soul shall clime, | |
| Then all this Earthy grosnes quit, | 20 |
| Attir'd with Stars, we shall for ever sit, | |
| Triumphing over Death, and Chance, and thee O Time. | |
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