Time Was Upon the Wing

[^ Evening, High Humidity. watercolor. 10 x 13". © Bullock Online 2013]

Time was upon
The wing, to fly away;
And I call'd on
Him but a while to stay;
But he'd be gone,
For ought that I could say.

He held out then,
A writing, as he went;
And ask'd me, when
False man would be content
To pay again,
What God and Nature lent.

An hour glass,
In which were sands but few,
As he did pass,
He show'd and told me too,
Mine end near was,
And so away he flew.

- Robert Herrick (1591-1674), Upon Time

While sitting on the fire escape and watching the day die out, unavoidably thinking about mortality and time and everything I want to do in what I hope will be a very long life, I knocked out this painting after a day of several failures. The failures always make the end seem nearer, so this was a nice way to finish up.

Visit Bullock Online: paintings and works on paper by Robert Edward Bullock.