Edward Young

  • From “Night Thoughts,” Night I.
      BE wise to-day; ’t is madness to defer;
    Next day the fatal precedent will plead;
    Thus on, till wisdom is pushed out of life.
    Procrastination is the thief of time;
    Year after year it steals, till all are fled,
    And to...

  • From “Night Thoughts,” Night I.
      THE BELL strikes one: we take no note of time,
    But from its loss. To give it, then, a tongue,
    Is wise in man. As if an angel spoke,
    I feel the solemn sound. If heard aright,
    It is the knell of my departed hours:
    ...

  • From “Night Thoughts,” Night VI.
    AS in a wheel, all sinks, to reascend:
    Emblems of man, who passes, not expires.
      With this minute distinction, emblems just,
    Nature revolves, but man advances; both
    Eternal, that a circle, this a line.
    That...

  • From “Night Thoughts,” Night II.
      CELESTIAL Happiness, whene’er she stoops
    To visit Earth, one shrine the goddess finds,
    And one alone, to make her sweet amends
    For absent Heaven—the bosom of a friend;
    Where heart meets heart, reciprocally soft,
    ...

  • Under the violets, blue and sweet,
      Where low the willow droops and weeps,
    Where children tread with timid feet,
      When twilight o’er the forest creeps,
      She sleeps,—my little darling sleeps.

    Breathe low and soft, O wind! breathe low
      Where so...