THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

EVEN SUCH IS TIME.

This poem was found in a Bible in the Tower of London. It was written by Sir Walter Raleigh (1554-1618), a favourite courtier of Queen Elizabeth I. He was imprisoned by King James I, her successor, accused of treason. He was eventually put to death.
Raleigh, apart from being a writer was an adventurer. In 1595, he led an expedition to Guiana in search of El Dorado. He described the expedition in his book The Discoverie of Guiana. He did discover some gold mines, but no one supported his project. While in prison he also wrote “The History of the World.”
Popular feeling has always been on Raleigh’s side ever since 1603. After his death in 1618, his collective writings were collected and published.

Here is his poem:

Even such is time that takes in trust
Our youth, our joys, our all we have,
And pays us back with earth and dust.
Who in the dark and silent grave,
When we have wandered all our ways,
Shuts up the story of our days;
But from this earth, this grave, this dust,
My God shall raise me up i trust.