Quote#Death
But at my back I always hear
Quote byAndrew Marvell · 1621–1678
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Miscellaneous Poems (1681), To His Coy Mistress, line 21.
English (original)
But at my back I always hear Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity. Thy beauty shall no more be found; Nor, in thy marble vault shall sound My echoing song; then worms shall try That long preserved virginity, And your quaint honor turn to dust, And into ashes all my lust. The grave's a fine and private place, But none, I think, do there embrace.
— Andrew Marvell
More from Andrew Marvell
An age at least to every part, And the last age should show your heart.
Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, Lady, were no crime.
For though the whole world cannot show such another, Yet we’d better by far have him than his brother.
The world in all doth but two nations bear — The good, the bad; and these mixed everywhere.
Art indeed is long, but life is short.
Now therefore while the youthful hue Sits on thy skin like morning dew, And while thy willing soul transpires At every pore with instant fires, Now let us sport us while we may, And now, like amorous birds of prey,