Page:In Other Words (1912).djvu/39

 

A Plea for the Present

AD LEUCONOEM.
Horace: Book I, Ode 11.
“Tu ne quaesieris, scire nefas—”

 

Be not, I pray, so curious
For knowledge; it’s injurious
      To know about the future
      And compute your
       Every chance.
’Twould be a source of pain to you
To find what years remain to you
      To know your length of tether
      And the weather
       In advance.

Life? Don’t have such a thirst of it;
The best you get’s the worst of it!
      You can’t be here forever,
      They assever.
       Watch your step!
While I’ve been oratorical
Pa Tempus (metaphorical)
      Has, as it were, been guying
      Me by flying.
       —Are you hep?

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