| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909. | | | | A Comparison | | By William Cowper (1731–1800) |
| | | THE LAPSE of time and rivers is the same, | |
| Both speed their journey with a restless stream; | |
| The silent pace with which they steal away, | |
| No wealth can bribe, no prayers persuade to stay; | |
| Alike irrevocable both when past, | 5 |
| And a wide ocean swallows both at last. | |
| Though each resemble each in every part, | |
| A difference strikes at length the musing heart; | |
| Streams never flow in vain; where streams abound | |
| How laughs the land with various plenty crowned! | 10 |
| But time, that should enrich the nobler mind, | |
| Neglected, leaves a dreary waste behind. | | | | |
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