BY THE PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF DEAD AND LIVE LANGUAGES YOU bid me sing, -- can I forget The classic ode of days gone by, -- How belle Fifine and jeune Lisette Exclaimed, "Anacreon, geron ei"? "Regardez donc," those ladies said, -- "You're getting bald and wrinkled too: When summer's roses all are shed, Love's nullum ite, voyez-vous!" In vain ce brave Anacreon's cry, "Of Love alone my banjo sings" (Erota mounon). "Etiam si, -- Eh b'en?" replied the saucy things, -- "Go find a maid whose hair is gray, And strike your lyre, -- we sha'n't complain: But parce nobis, s'il vous plait, -- Voila Adolphe! Voila Eugene!" Ah, jeune Lisette! Ah, belle Fifine! Anacreon's lesson all must learn; O kairos oxus; Spring is green, But Acer Hyems waits his turn! I hear you whispering from the dust, "Tiens, mon cher, c'est toujours so, -- The brightest blade grows dim with rust, The fairest meadow white with snow!" You do not mean it! Not encore? Another string of playday rhymes? You've heard me -- nonne est? -- before, Multoties, -- more than twenty times; Non possum, -- vraiment, -- pas du tout, I cannot! I am loath to shirk; But who will listen if I do, My memory makes such shocking work? Ginosko. Scio. Yes, I'm told Some ancients like my rusty lay, As Grandpa Noah loved the old Red-sandstone march of Jubal's day. I used to carol like the birds, But time my wits has quite unfixed, Et quoad verba, -- for my words, -- Ciel! Eheu! Whe-ew! -- how they're mixed! Mehercle! Zeu! Diable! how My thoughts were dressed when I was young, But tempus fugit! see them now Half clad in rags of every tongue! O philoi, fratres, chers amis! I dare not court the youthful Muse, For fear her sharp response should be, "Papa Anacreon, please excuse!" Adieu! I've trod my annual track How long! -- let others count the miles, -- And peddled out my rhyming pack To friends who always paid in smiles. So, laissez-moi! some youthful wit No doubt has wares he wants to show; And I am asking, "Let me sit," Dum ille clamat, "Dos pou sto!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ODE ON THE POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS OF THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND by WILLIAM COLLINS (1721-1759) TO MY DEAR FRIEND, MR. CONGREVE, ON HIS COMEDY, 'THE DOUBLE-DEALER' by JOHN DRYDEN ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD WEST by THOMAS GRAY THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE LONG AGO by BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TAYLOR CLIO, NINE ECLOGUES IN HONOUR OF NINE VIRTUES: 1. TRUE AND CHASTE LOVE by WILLIAM BASSE TILL THE MIST PASSES by LOUISA SARAH BEVINGTON ON THE CAUSE, CONSQUENCE AND CURE OF SPIRITUAL PRIDE by JOHN BYROM |