Page:Astrophel and other poems (IA astrophelotherpo00swiniala).pdf/202

 'Change alone stands fast, thou sayest, O death: I know not: What art thou, my brother death, that thou shouldst know? Men may reap no fruits of fields wherein they sow not; Hope or fear is all the seed we have to sow. Winter seals the sacred springs up that they flow not: Wind and sun and change unbind them, and they flow. Am I thou or art thou I? The years that show not Pass, and leave no sign when time shall be to show.'

Hope makes suit to faith lest fear give ear to sorrow: Doubt strews dust upon his head, and goes his way. All the golden hope that life of death would borrow, How, if death require again, may life repay? Earth endures no darkness whence no light yearns thorough; God in man as light in darkness lives, they say: Yet, would midnight take assurance of the morrow, Who shall pledge the faith or seal the bond of day?