Who so dryves of good déedes, he playes the farmers part,
Who will not overslip the brooke whilste that the water falls,
The water runnes, and kepes his course, and ever kepe it shall.
[tr. Drant (1567)]

He who defers this work from day to day,
Does on a river's bank expecting stay,
Till the whole stream which stopt him should be gone,
That runs, and as it runs, forever will run on.
[tr. Cowley (17th C)]

He that to rule
And square his life, prolongs, is like the Fool
Who staid to have the River first pass by,
Which rowles and rowles to all Eternity.
[tr. Fanshawe; ed. Brome (1666)]

So stayes the Clown till th' hasty Brook be dri'd,
But th' everlasting streams still still do glide.
[tr. "Dr. W."; ed. Brome (1666)]

He that deferrs to live is like the Clown,
Who waits, expecting till the River's gone:
But that still rouls its Streams, and will roul on.
[tr. Creech (1684)]

And sure the man, who has it in his power
To practise virtue, and protracts the hour,
Waits, like the rustic, till the river dried:
Still glides the river, and will ever glide.
[tr. Francis (1747)]

He that defers life's task from day to day,
Is like the simple clown who thought to stay
Till the full stream that stopt him should be gone: --
Alas! the tide still rolls and ever will roll on!
[tr. Howes (1845)]

He who postpones the hour of living well, like the hind [in the fable], waits till [all the water in] the river be run off: whereas it flows, and will flow, ever rolling on.
[tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]

He who puts off the time for mending, stands
A clodpoll by the stream with folded hands,
Waiting till all the water be gone past;
But it runs on, and will, while time shall last.
[tr. Conington (1874)]

He that would mend his life, yet still delays
To set to work, is like the boor who stays
Till the broad stream that bars his way is gone.
But on still flows the stream, and ever will flow on.
[tr. Martin (1881)]

Whoever puts off the course of a right life waits, like the rustic, until the stream shall stop. But it rolls on, and will continue to roll on to every age.
[tr. Elgood (1893)]

He who puts off the hour of right living is like the bumpkin waiting for the river to run out: yet on it glides, and on it will glide, rolling its flood forever.
[tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1926)]

And sure the man, who has it in his power
To practice virtue, and protracts the hour,
Waits, like the rustic, till the river's dried;
Still glides the river, and will ever glide.
[tr. Francis; ed. Kraemer (1936)]

Any man delaying when he could be living right
is like the hayseed who waits for the river to stop:
it flows and flows -- in fact, it rushes -- forever.
[tr. Fuchs (1977)]

The fool waits
For the river to run by, so he can cross, but it runs forever,
On and on, and always will. Now is the time.
[tr. Raffel (1983)]

The man who puts off
The time to start living right is like the hayseed
Who wants to cross the river and so he sits there
Waiting for the river to run out of water,
And the river flows by, and it flows on by, forever.
[tr. Ferry (2001)]

The man who postpones the hour of reform
is the yokel who waits for the river to pass; but it continues
and will continue gliding and rolling for ever and ever.
[tr. Rudd (2005 ed.)]

He who postpones the time for right-living resembles
The rustic who’s waiting until the river’s passed by:
Yet it glides on, and will roll on, gliding forever.
[tr. Kline (2015)]

He who postpones the hour of living rightly is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses, yet on it glides, and will glide on forever.
[E.g.]

He who postpones the hour of living rightly, is like the rustic who waits till the river shall have passed away; but that still flows, and will continue to flow to perpetuity.
[E.g.]