It is not time that flies, 'tis we, 'tis we are flying ; It is not life that dies, 'tis we, 'tis we are dying. Time and eternity are one, Time is eternity begun : Time changes, but without decay, 'Tis we alone who pass away.
2. It is not truth that flies, 'tis we, 'tis we are flying ; It is not faith that dies, 'tis we, 'tis we are dying. O ever-during Faith and Truth, Whose youth is age, whose age is youth ; Twin stars of immortality, Ye cannot perish from the sky.
3. It is not hope that flies, 'tis we, 'tis we are flying ; [we are dying. It is not love that dies, 'tis we, 'tis Twin streams that have in heaven your birth, Ye glide in gentle joy through earth ; We fade like flowers beside you sown â Ye are still flowing, flowing on.
4. Yet we but die to live, it is from death we're flying ; For ever lives our life, for us there is no dying. We die, but as the spring-bud dies, In summer's golden glow to rise ; These be our days of vernal bloom. Our harvest is beyond the tomb.