Saturday, September 18, 2010

Envoy / Ernest Dowson

     
Envoy

     Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat incohare longam

They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,
     Love and desire and hate;
I think they have no portion in us after
                  We pass the gate.

They are not long, the days of wine and roses;
     Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
                  Within a dream.

~~
Ernest Dowson (1867-1900)
from
Verses, 1896

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Epigraph: "The brief sum of life forbids us the hope of enduring long." (Horace)

Ernest Dowson biography

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