Vecchio

As I walked out one evening

And down by the brimming river
I heard a lover sing
Under an arch of the railway:
Love has no ending.

I'll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky.

The Years shall run like rabbits,
For in my arms I hold
The Flower of the Ages,
And the first love of the world.

But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
O let not Time deceive you,
You cannot conquer Time.

In headaches and in worry
Vaguely life leaks away,
And Time will have his fancy
Tomorrow or today.

~W.H. Auden, As I Walked Out One Evening