"The aged man that coffers up his gold "Is plagued with cramps, and gouts, and painful fits, "And scarce hath eyes his treasure to behold, "So then he hath it, when he cannot use it, "And leaves it to be master'd by his young; "Who in their pride do presently abuse it: "Their father was too weak, and they too strong, "To hold their cursed-blessed fortune long. "The sweets we wish for turn to loathed sours, "Even in the moment that we call them ours. "Unruly blasts wait on the tender spring; "The adder hisses where the sweet birds sing; "What virtue breeds iniquity devours: "We have no good that we can say is ours. "But ill-annexed opportunity "Or kills his life, or else his quality. "O Opportunity! thy guilt is great: ""Tis thou that execut'st the traitor's treason; "Thou sett'st the wolf where he the lamb may get; "Whoever plots the sin, thou 'point'st the season; "Tis thou that spurn'st at right, at law, at reason; "And in thy shady cell, where none may spy him, "Sits Sin, to seize the souls that wander by him. "Thou mak'st the vestal violate her oath; "Thou blow'st the fire when temperance is thaw'd; "Thou smother'st honesty, thou murder'st troth; "Thou foul abettor! thou notorious bawd! "Thou plantest scandal, and displacest laud: "Thou ravisher, thou traitor, thou false thief, "Thy honey turns to gall, thy joy to grief! "Thy secret pleasure turns to open shame, "Thy private feasting to a public fast; 26 Thy smoothing titles to a ragged name : Thy sugar'd tongue to bitter wormwood taste: "Thy violent vanities can never last. How comes it then, vile Opportunity, Being so bad, such numbers seek for thee? "When wilt thou be the humble suppliant's friend, "And bring him where his suit may be obtain'd? "When wilt thou sort" an hour great strifes to end? "Or free that soul which wretchedness hath chain'd? "Give physic to the sick, ease to the pain'd? "The poor, lame, blind, halt, creep, cry out for thee; "But they ne'er meet with Opportunity. 26 smoothing] i. e. flattering. 27 sort] i. e. choose. 66 "The patient dies while the physician sleeps; "Wrath, envy, treason, rape, and murder's rages, "Thy heinous hours wait on them as their pages. "When truth and virtue have to do with thee, "A thousand crosses keep them from thy aid; "They buy thy help: but sin ne'er gives a fee, "He gratis comes; and thou art well appay'd 28 "As well to hear as grant what he hath said. 66 My Collatine would else have come to me "When Tarquin did, but he was stay'd by thee. "Guilty thou art of murder and of theft; 66 66 66 Guilty of perjury and subornation; Guilty of treason, forgery, and shift: Guilty of incest, that abomination: "An accessary by thine inclination 66 "To all sins past, and all that are to come, Misshapen Time, copesmate of ugly night, "Swift subtle post, carrier of grisly care; "Eater of youth, false slave to false delight, "Base watch of woes, sin's packhorse, virtue's snare; 28 appay'd] i. e. satisfied. "Thou nursest all, and murderest all that are. "O hear me then, injurious, shifting Time! "Be guilty of my death, since of my crime. "Why hath thy servant, Opportunity, "Betray'd the hours thou gav'st me to repose? "Cancell'd my fortunes, and enchained me "To endless date of never-ending woes? "Time's office is to fine the hate of foes; "To eat up errors by opinion bred, "Not spend the dowry of a lawful bed. "Time's glory is to calm contending kings, "To unmask falsehood, and bring truth to light "To stamp the seal of time in aged things, "To wake the morn, and sentinel the night, "To wrong the wronger till he render right; "To ruinate proud buildings with thy hours, "And smear with dust their glittering golden towers: "To fill with worm-holes stately monuments, "To feed oblivion with decay of things, "To blot old books, and alter their contents, "To pluck the quills from ancient ravens' wings, "To dry the old oak's sap, and cherish springs; "To spoil antiquities of hammer'd steel, "And turn the giddy round of fortune's wheel; 29 fine] i. e. put an end to "To show the beldame daughters of her daughter, "To make the child a man, the man a child, "To slay the tiger that doth live by slaughter, "To tame the unicorn and lion wild: "To mock the subtle, in themselves beguil'd; "To cheer the ploughman with increaseful crops, "And waste huge stones with little water-drops. "Why work'st thou mischief in thy pilgrimage, "Unless thou could'st return to make amends? "One poor retiring 30 minute in an age "Would purchase thee a thousand thousand friends, "Lending him wit, that to bad debtors lends: “O, this dread night, would'st thou one hour come back, "I could prevent this storm, and shun thy wrack! "Thou ceaseless lackey to eternity, "With some mischance cross Tarquin in his flight: "Devise extremes beyond extremity, "To make him curse this cursed crimeful night: "Let ghastly shadows his lewd eyes affright; "And the dire thought of his committed evil, "Shape every bush a hideous, shapeless devil. "Disturb his hours of rest with restless trances, "Afflict him in his bed with bedrid groans; "Let there bechance him pitiful mischances, 30 retiring] i. e. returning. |