Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam | A poem by Ernest Dowson, 1896
Fred Lyon, Ball game in the fog, 1950
The brief sum of life forbids us the hope of enduring long
Horace
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, 1896
