Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


WHAT IS MAN? by PALLADAS

First Line: REMEMBER, O MAN, HOW YOUR FATHER MADE YOU, HIS SON!
Last Line: YOUR LIFE IN UNQUENCHABLE LUST AND A DROP OF SHAME.
Subject(s): MEN;

REMEMBER, O man, how your father made you, his son!
Then you will cease from your boasting and put it by.
In Plato's dreams was this idle fancy begun --
He called you immortal, a creature sprung from the sky.
You are made of dust. Are you proud of that? So a man
Might deceitfully dress up the truth in a lordlier name.
But if you would know what you are, why then, you began
Your life in unquenchable lust and a drop of shame.



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