Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/47

Age and Time And foul of face was she become.
And though old Time had left her some
Sparse, straggling locks, her head was white
As though ’twere floured: the loss were light
If that poor body, worn and waste.
The doubtful woe of death should taste;
For shrivelled were her limbs, and dry.
Faded her once bright lustrous eye;360
Wrinkled the cheeks once soft and smooth;
And those once pink-shell ears, forsooth,
Now pendent hung; her pearl-like teeth,
Alas! had long since left their sheath,
And barely could she walk as much
As fathoms four without her crutch.

Time speedeth over night and day.
No rest he taketh nor delay
Of briefest movement makes, but steals
So warily along, man feels370
His going nought, but fondly deems
Time standeth still; but while he dreams.
Half-waked, Time’s foot hath passed, I trow,
For none can say that time is—now!
Ask thou some learned clerk, while he
Maketh response, the time shall be
Gone and departed three times o’er,
For Time aye passeth, but no more
Returneth: e’en as water flows
For ever onward, but ne’er goes380
Back to its source. No thing can ’dure
Against the force of time, though sure
As adamant or iron. Time
Each thing devoureth when its prime