Mark thou the shadow as it goes, Right forward to the end, Then learn the lesson that it shows, All life must thither wend. [Illustration: SUNDIAL, 18th CENTURY. ] Time is speeding fast away, Love waits not for ever, Lads and lasses, mark I pray, When ’tis now or never. [Illustration: ORIGINAL SKETCH FOR A LEAP YEAR DIAL. ] Listen to my simple rhyme, Telling hapless maids the time, How each February three years fled Women all may ask to wed. ADDITIONAL VERSES. We cling to life for fear that we, When life is gone should cease to be. When the shadows flee away, God give thee rest ’til break of day. Without a pencil or a pen, I trace the hours of light for men. He only can be called a friend, Who keeps the same unto the end. The greatest maxim I can give, Is make the most of hours you live. I fear for thee, lest all hours given, Pave not a road that leads to Heaven. O blame not time if thou art poor, For who knows what it holds in store. Fresh hours and troubles never greet, Ere you have spent these moments sweet. Second by second each hour is paid, And little by little fortunes are made. Life is a wind, a shadow, and dust, Man is a mortal and perish he must. Two forces man may not deride, The flight of time and strength of tide. First recognize that life is short. Then live each day as all men ought. God through the senses gives to all, Proofs of time’s flight men may recall. None so blind as those who will not see, Remember this when next you look at me. Hours there are most men would recall, But few of us ask the return of them all. O never fear an hour of loss, That takes its shadow from the cross. Passenger, follow my flight and know, A journey like me you soon must go. Live, O live, to all I cry, Live, remembering ye must die. Just like the clouds I too drift by, Formed and reformed incessantly. Mortal, ever strive to learn, Thou art from dust, and must return. Through the hours of life men should, Learn to take bad with the good. Since life’s as short as all men say, Mortal, do not waste a day. Early to bed and early to rise, Sees the sun set and lighten the skies. A good-bye never, mortals, say, Since we must meet another day.