Lichtenbergs Musik

The Time

Part 1 & 2

The Time

Part 1

(Sonett Nr. 12)

When I do count the clock that tells the time, 

And see the brave day sunk in hideous night; 

When I behold the violet past prime, 

And sable curls all silver'd o'er with white; 

When lofty trees I see barren of leaves 

Which erst from heat did canopy the herd, 

And summer's green all girded up in sheaves 

Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard, 

Then of thy beauty do I question make, 

That thou among the wastes of time must go, 

Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake 

And die as fast as they see others grow; 

And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence 

Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.

The Time

Part 2

(Sonett Nr. 123)

No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change: 

Thy pyramids built up with newer might 

To me are nothing novel, nothing strange; 

They are but dressings of a former sight. 

Our dates are brief, and therefore we admire 

What thou dost foist upon us that is old, 

And rather make them born to our desire 

Than think that we before have heard them told. 

Thy registers and thee I both defy, 

Not wondering at the present nor the past, 

For thy records and what we see doth lie, 

Made more or less by thy continual haste. 

This I do vow and this shall ever be; 

I will be true, despite thy scythe and thee.