Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PRO AND CONTRA, by M. A. M. DESAUGIERS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PRO AND CONTRA, by                    
First Line: Let us die, friends, let us die
Last Line: Chorus--let us die, &c.


LET us die, friends, let us die!
What is life
But weary strife--
Let us die, friends, let us die;
Soon as may be, you and I.

Naked in the world to come,
There to dream of wealth or glory,
Bare at last to travel home:
This sums up our life and story.
Chorus--Let us die, &c.

Yet good liquor, be it said,
Food and appetite, and mirth,
Luck in love, and sleep abed,
These are only found on earth.
Let us live, friends, let us live!
Life to quit
Shows lack of wit--
Let us live, friends, let us live;
Ten score years of fortune give.

Life is to a garden like,
Where if man will pick a rose
Thorns will on a sudden strike,
And with blood his finger flows.
Chorus--Let us die, &c.

But, alas! if we should die,
Of the pretty girls a score
Would the eyes we deify
With regretful tears run o'er.
Chorus--Let us live, &c.

Yes, but if we live, alas!
We may chance our loves to see
To some other lovers pass,
And ourselves deserted be.
Chorus--Let us die, &c.

What! die fettered in their chains?
They would laugh and never mind;
And where gloomy Pluto reigns
Shall we girls more faithful find?
Chorus--Let us live, &c.

But down there our eyes will con
Racine, Moliere, such as they;
Panard, Corneille, Crebillon,
Men you never see to-day.
Chorus--Let us die, &c.

That resolve looks wise may be,
Yet is simpler than it looks:
Those great authors we shall see;
Shall we also see their books?
Chorus--Let us live, &c.

But may not some cursed rogue,
Ere another year be gone,
Following custom now in vogue,
Kill us ten times 'stead of one?
Chorus--Let us die, &c.

Yet if the dark nether plain
We by miracle escape,
Is't not sweet to see again
Roses, harvests, and the grape?
Chorus--Let us live, &c.

Still the treasures of the fields,
To the least shrub in the wood,
Undiscerning Nature yields
To the bad as to the good.
Chorus--Let us die, &c.

These abuses still to check,
Heaven opposes on the earth,
Fields and virtue's life to deck,
Wine and intellectual worth.
Chorus--Let us live, &c.

Ten score winters to remain,
Such long age we might decline;
But as soon as we attain
'Twixt ten score of years and nine,
Chorus--Let us die, &c.





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