The clock ticks away-
Every second a loss.
It must prepare, say
For the coming hour.

The fatal staff clicks
Another moment in oblivion.
That noise, so despotic!
A lighted candle melts...

Forever moving, centripetal.
Chimes shiver in the cold
Outside, a light drizzle.
Must I leave my home?

Wasteful, shameful, make it quit!
Time has me in chains.
Bite, gnaw, do not let
It control thy feeble mind.

Dear Lord! how it lashes
Another whip at my thoughts.
I am a slave under its thatches.
Carry me to peace!

I must leave
But where, I cry.
Forget, I must, to flee
From this clock of Death.