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Poetry · Poem
The Conclusion
Sir Walter RaleighEnglish RenaissancePoem
诗
SOURCE TEXT · English original
EVEN such is Time, that takes in trust Our youth, our joys, our all we have, And pays us but with earth and dust; Who in the dark and silent grave, When we have wander’d 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.
Cultural reading
Reading the poem
Eight lines describe Time as a trustee that takes youth and joy and repays only earth and dust, then turn in the closing couplet to the speaker's trust that God will raise him from that dust.
Language notes
Text and edition
The English text follows the fixed historical witness in The Oxford Book of English Verse; no modern third-party translation is included.