European Elegies/Winter/Devouring time
35.DEVOURING TIME
Devouring time drags all things down,And leaves no beauty in its place;Years, like a sponge, all joys erase;Ages, like waves, all memories drown.
The rivers fail; the seas retreat;High mountain summits melt and die.Mere trifles these. The glorious skyItself shall pass in fervent heat.
Death claims all things at last, for deathIs a grim law to all that is;Till the whole universe and hisVast vaults shall vanish like a breath.
From the Latin of L. Annaeus Seneca.