| THY glass will show thee how thy beauties wear | |
| Thy dial how thy precious minutes waste; | |
| These vacant leaves thy mind’s imprint will bear, | |
| And of this book this learning mayst thou taste. | |
| The wrinkles which thy glass will truly show | 5 |
| Of mouthed graves will give thee memory; | |
| Thou by thy dial’s shady stealth mayst know | |
| Time’s thievish progress to eternity. | |
| Look! what thy memory cannot contain, | |
| Commit to these waste blanks, and thou shalt find | 10 |
| Those children nursed, deliver’d from thy brain, | |
| To take a new acquaintance of thy mind. | |
| These offices, so oft as thou wilt look, | |
| Shall profit thee and much enrich thy book. |