Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO HIS WIFE by DECIMUS MAGNUS AUSONIUS

First Line: BE LIFE WHAT IT HAS BEEN, AND LET US HOLD
Last Line: COUNT NOT THE YEARS, BUT TAKE OF EACH ITS BOON.
Subject(s): LOVE - MARITAL; OLD AGE; WEDDED LOVE; MARRIAGE - LOVE;

BE life what it has been, and let us hold,
Dear wife, the names we each gave each of old;
And let not time work change upon us two,
I still your boy, and still my sweetheart you.
What though I outlive Nestor? and what though
You in your turn a Sibyl's years should know?
Ne'er let us know old age or late or soon;
Count not the years, but take of each its boon.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net