La Vida es Sueno

The tide of Time was at my feet
Flowing with calm & equal motion;
With gladdened heart my eyes might greet
The coming of the sunlit ocean,
Till at its full, a fatal storm
Wrapt in grim shade the mighty form.

Then backward rolled the ebb of Time
While I with eager steps pursue,
And thouglh the hour had lost its prime,
Still as the dim beach wider grew,
I passed along the utmost verge
Of the inconstant fleeting surge.

Back & more back the waters rolled
And, faster yet the waves receding,
Made now, alas! my hopes grow cold,
As I, the vacant prospect heeding,
Gaze on the bleak and desert strand,
As sad I pace the barren sand.