Vitae Summa Brevis (They Are Not Long)

by Ernest Dowson (1896) — a poem card from Justes Mots

A brief, clear-eyed reckoning: our days are short, and pass the way a dream does.

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…

Themes: reflection · grief