Friday, April 28, 2023

Henry Vaughn (1621-1695)

Henry Vaughan Poems

 The Evening-Watch: A Dialogue

BODY 

Farewell! I go to sleep; but when 
The day-star springs, I’ll wake again. 

SOUL 

Go, sleep in peace; and when thou liest 
Unnumber’d in thy dust, when all this frame 
Is but one dram, and what thou now descriest 
In sev’ral parts shall want a name, 
Then may his peace be with thee, and each dust 
Writ in his book, who ne’er betray’d man’s trust! 

BODY 

Amen! but hark, ere we two stray 
How many hours dost think ’till day? 

SOUL 

Ah go; th’art weak, and sleepy. Heav’n 
Is a plain watch, and without figures winds 
All ages up; who drew this circle, even 
He fills it; days and hours are blinds. 
Yet this take with thee. The last gasp of time 
Is thy first breath, and man’s eternal prime.

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