Time

As a reference for Seneca, Moral Letters 49 and James Vila Blake, Sonnets from Marcus Aurelius 6: 

Those of my generation will still remember this song, though the most cynical and jaded of my peers would mock its clichéd sentimentality. Yet many years later, I find how those very same people will post it on social media when their mothers and fathers pass away. 

It isn't that the song has changed, it's that folks eventually figure out how time passes gently but inescapably. Time can be a harsh mistress. Whatever plans I have to make her fit my whims are hopelessly misguided, and whatever regrets I brood over are usually uncovered far too late. 

Since all creatures are so ephemeral, it is best to do what needs to be done, and to say what needs to be said, before the opportunity is forever lost. 

The Alan Parsons Project, "Time" from The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhRzORqNa0E 

Time, flowing like a river 
Time, beckoning me 
Who knows when 
We shall meet again, if ever 
But time keeps flowing 
Like a river to the sea 

Goodbye my love 
Maybe for forever 
Goodbye my love 
The tide waits for me 
Who knows when 
We shall meet again, if ever 
But time keeps flowing 
Like a river (on and on) 
To the sea, to the sea 

'Til it's gone forever 
Gone forever 
Gone forevermore 

Goodbye my friend 
(Goodbye my love) 
Maybe for forever 
Goodbye my friend 
(Who knows when
We shall meet again) 
The stars wait for me 
Who knows where 
We shall meet again, if ever 
But time keeps flowing 
Like a river (on and on) 
To the sea, to the sea 

'Til it's gone forever 
Gone forever 
Gone forever 
Gone forever now 
Forevermore, forevermore