"To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell

Summary: If we had all the time in the world, we could develop our love however slow we wanted to, but, time is unrelenting, and we must make the most of our love during the short time that we are alive.
Paraphrase: If we had an unlimited amount of time on this earth, your patience with our relationship would be forgiven. We could spend as much time figuring out what to do with our love as we wanted. If you were to find riches next to a goddess, I would be upset in my hometown. I would love you till the end of the time, and it would be ok if you waited till then to love me back. My small love would grow very large over a long amount of time. I would spend thousands of years adoring each of your beautiful features. I would spend the most time loving your heart. You deserve this, I would give you nothing less. Unfortunaley, we do not have forever. I am constantly reminded about the reality of time. Everything is destroyed by time, and you, my love, will eventually fall victim to time's relentless destruction. While we are young, and relatively untainted by time, we should fully embrace our love and give all of ourselves to it. Although we cannot slow time, we can make the most of it, and share a lifetime of love together.
Close Reading: 'Time's winged chariot hurrying near;'
This line is the second line of the second stanza. In the first line of this stanza, the speaker begins with the word 'but'. This begins an obvious shift in the poem. In the first stanza, the speaker espouts his love for his mistress by discussing a hypothetical situation in which they would have all of eternity to be together. In the second stanza, the speaker discusses the unrelenting force of time, and how it will eventually claim himself, his mistress, and their love. Although this notion that time will eventually destroy all seems bleak, the second line of the second stanza hints that the speaker does not necessarily view time as a negative thing. I say this because of the words 'winged chariot'. A chariot is a horse carriage used by many ancient civilizations, including Rome and Greece. In Greek mythology, the sun god Helios pulled the sun across the sky each morning using a chariot pulled by four winged horses. Performing this act every morning ensured life for all Greek people. The use of this reference doesn't seem to fit with the tone of the rest of the stanza. Perhaps the speaker is being sarcastic by using this reference. Or maybe he is hinting at the fact that he is not truly bothered by time and its destructive powers.