To-morrow

From “Irene” TO-MORROW’S action! can that hoary wisdom, Borne down with years, still doat upon to-morrow! The fatal mistress of the young, the lazy, The coward and the fool, condemned to lose An useless life in waiting for to-morrow, To gaze with longing eyes upon to-morrow, Till interposing death destroys the prospect. Strange that this general fraud from day to day Should fill the world with wretches, undetected! The soldier, laboring through a winter’s march, Still sees to-morrow drest in robes of triumph; Still to the lover’s long-expecting arms To-morrow brings the visionary bride. But thou, too old to bear another cheat, Learn that the present hour alone is man’s.

Collection: 
English
1729
Samuel Johnson
Sub Title: 
Poems of Sentiment: I. Time

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