Fugitive Poetry. 1600–1878/Inscription on a Sun-dial

Inscription on a Sun-Dial.
Save when the sun's resplendent ray
May gild the passing hour,
To mark the minutes on their way
I lose the ready power.

So only can that time be blest,
And called by man his own,
In which the sunbeam of the breast,
The Conscience, may have shone!