To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

"To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" is a 1648 poem by the English Cavalier poet Robert Herrick.

The glorious Lamp of Heaven, the Sun, The higher he's a getting; The sooner will his Race be run, And neerer he's to Setting.

That Age is best, which is the first, When Youth and Blood are warmer; But being spent, the worse, and worst Times, still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time; And while ye may, go marry: For having lost but once your prime, You may forever tarry.

[1] First published as number 208 in the verse collection Hesperides (1648), the poem extols the notion of carpe diem, a philosophy that recognizes the brevity of life and the need to live for and in the moment.