Life's elixir

Forth from the eastern gate my steeds I drive,

And lo! a cemetery meets my view;

Aspens around in wild luxuriance thrive,

The road is fringed with fir and pine and yew.

Beneath my feet lie the forgotten dead,

Wrapped in a twilight of eternal gloom;

Down by the Yellow Springs2 their earthly bed,

And everlasting silence is their doom.

How fast the lights and shadows come and go!

Like morning dew our fleeting life has passed;

Man, a poor traveller on earth below,

Is gone, while brass and stone can still outlast.

Time is inexorable, and in vain

Against his might the holiest mortal strives;

Can /we/ then hope this precious boon to gain,

By strange elixirs to prolong our lives?...

Oh, rather quaff good liquor while we may,

And dress in silk and satin every day!