‘The years shall run like rabbits'

 

                          

    ‘The years shall run like rabbits, 

    For in my arms I ho

The Flower of the Ages, 

      And the first love of the world.'

But all the clocks in the city 

 Began to whirr and chime: 

‘O let not Time deceive you, 

 You cannot conquer Time.

‘In the burrows of the Nightmare 

 Where Justice naked is, 

Time watches from the shadow 

                   And coughs when you would kiss. 

 ‘In headaches and in worry 

     Vaguely life leaks away, 

        And Time will have his fancy 

    To-morrow or to-day.

                W. H. Auden (As I Walked Out One Evening)