Pluck the roses while they bloom,
Autumn is not spring!
Snatch each hour as it flies,
Time is on the wing!
This day's thine — but who can tell
What the next may bring?
Drain the cup of Love and Mirth,
Time is on the wing!
Love deferred is love undone —
'Tis a foolish thing.
Swiftly live thy span of life,
Time is on the wing!
Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim (1719 – 1803) Germany
Translated by Lois Saunders
Source: Strangers and foreigners being translations from the French, Italian, German and Middle High German: done into English verse, Lois Saunders, Elkin Mathews, 1912
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