"Gather ye rose buds while ye may,
Olde time is still a-flying.
And this same flower that smiles today,
tommorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of Heaven, the Sun.
The higher he's a getting.
The sooner will his race be run,
and nearer he's to settin.

That age is best, which is the first,
when Youth and blood are warmer.
But being spent, the worse, and worst,
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
and while Ye may, go merry.
For having lost but once your prime,
you may forever tarry.
--Robert Herrick (To the Virgins to Make Much of Time)