When I consider how my life is spent III
byWhen I consider how my life is spent
My conscience slinks away -
You see I have no moral bent
For working all the day.
When I remember what I used to do
While following the book
It seems that all I ever knew
Was captured in a look.
When I imagine what the clouds will hide
A fever clouds my thought
Forgetting which, of time and tide,
My hands are tied and caught.
When I am sorry for the things I did
And wish I'd never done
For all the mischief that I did and hid
The many wrongs begun,
What cleverness or coaxing can conceal
In fathomless array
The bruises that an angered man can deal
Both blue and grey.
What mindlessness, stupidity can do,
Dichotomy delays
To tell, and things I know are never true
I wish I could erase.
And all the heavens shall know of my guilt
And all of the gods will be there at my trial
Bickering foolishly - such is their style
Gored with a sword which is sheathed to the hilt.