Thy life is Gods, thy time to come is gone,

And is his right.

He is thy night at noon: he is at night

Thy noon alone.

The crop is his, for he has sown.

 

And well it was for thee, when this befell,

That God did make

Thy business his, and in thy life partake:

For thou canst tell,

If it be his once, all is well.

 

Only the present is thy part and fee.

And happy thou,

If, though thou didst not beat thy future brow,

Thou couldst well see

What present things required of thee.

 

They ask enough; why shouldst thou further go?

Raise not the mud

Of future depths, but drink the clear and good.

Dig not for woe

In times to come; for it will grow.

 

Man and the present fit: if he provide,

He breaks the square.

This hour is mine: if for the next I care,

I grow too wide,

And encroach upon deaths side.

 

George Herbert(1593-1633), The Discharge.