Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AS THE NEW YEAR [18 B.C.] DAWNED, by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AS THE NEW YEAR [18 B.C.] DAWNED, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: O postumus, alas! I hear the bells go / tinkle-tinkle!
Last Line: Shall spill upon your marble floors the wine he will inherit.
Alternate Author Name(s): F. P. A.
Subject(s): Holidays; New Year


O POSTUMUS, alas! I hear the bells go tinkle-tinkle!
Zip! goes another flitting year! here comes another wrinkle!
And though I hate to hang the crape—no skill and no endurance
Can keep your folks from putting in a claim for your insurance.

If daily you endow a school and forty-two Foundations
Would that put off a single day your last disintegrations?
No! What though you be prince or prune, a slacker or a hero,
The sum of all your wealth and woes is ultimately zero.

Some day you'll bid your wife good-bye, and—this no prognosis—
That afternoon they'll say it was arterio-sclerosis;
And in a year, or maybe less, a man of greater merit
Shall spill upon your marble floors the wine he will inherit.





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