Page:The Poetical Works of Thomas Parnell (1833).djvu/219

Rh

Time! destroying power,
 * Whom stone and brass obey,

Who giv'st to every flying hour
 * To work some new decay;

Unheard, unheeded, and unseen,
 * Thy secret saps prevail,

And ruin man, a nice machine,
 * By nature form'd to fail.

My change arrives; the change I meet,
 * Before I thought it nigh:

My spring, my years of pleasure fleet,
 * And all their beauties die.

In age I search, and only find
 * A poor unfruitful gain,

Grave Wisdom stalking slow behind,
 * Oppress'd with loads of pain.

My ignorance could once beguile,
 * And fancied joys inspire;

My errors cherish'd Hope to smile
 * On newly-born Desire.

But now experience shews the bliss
 * For which I fondly sought,

Not worth the long impatient wish,
 * And ardour of the thought.

My youth met Fortune fair array'd,
 * (In all her pomp she shone,)