Poem for Monday

The Hour Glass
By John Quincy Adams

Alas! how swift the moments fly!
How flash the years along!
Scarce here, yet gone already by,
The burden of a song.
See childhood, youth, and manhood pass,
And age, with furrowed brow;
Time was,--Time shall be--drain the glass,--
But where in Time is now?

Time is the measure but of change:
No present hour is found;
The past, the future, fill the range
Of Times unceasing round.
Where, then, is now? In realms above,
With God's attoning Lamb:
In regions of eternal love,
Where sits enthroned I AM.

Then, pilgrim, the joy and tears
On time no longer lean;
But henceforth all thy hopes and fears
From earth's affections wean:
To God let votive accents rise;
With truth, with virtue, live:
So all the bliss that time denies
Eternity shall give.

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Last night we had to clean the gerbils' cage, which traumatized them greatly when they were returned to find their hoards and piles of cardboard gone. Boromir in particular was very distressed and spent the entire evening gnawing apart paper towel rolls and, later, the paper towels themselves lining the bottom of the cage so he could make a new nest, whereas Aragorn ran around in circles for awhile and then gave up and jumped on the wheel. Silly boys.



And look! drew them playing! Look how accurate!.

While we were doing the actual cleaning, Aragorn and Boromir played in a cardboard box and spent ten minutes trying to jump the 20 inches over the side. Aragorn successfully landed on the edge several times though I'd like to think he wouldn't run away without Boromir. But my cats are quite resentful that the gerbils are getting all this attention and spent the whole time trying to jump on the kitchen table to get at them. Here, in small compensation, is a photo ...



Cinnamon (named after Cinnamon Carter of Mission: Impossible) is the gray one with the brownish stripey spatters, and Rosie is the big yellow cat. More photos here.

Okay...I really have to see Master and Commander again. ASAP. As in, before Thanksgiving. Anyone in the DC area have a few late morning hours you want to blow off and come with me to satisfy this urge?