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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THIS WORLD IS ALL A FLEETING SHOW, by MENANDER Poet's Biography First Line: I count it happiness Last Line: And no smooth passage when, in time, he goes! | |||
I count it happiness, Ere we go quickly thither whence we came, To gaze ungrieving on these majesties, The world-wide sun, the stars, water and clouds, And fire. Live, Parmeno, a hundred years Or a few months, these you will always see, And never, never, any greater things. Think of this lifetime as a festival Or visit to a strange city, full of noise, Buying and selling, thieving, dicing-stalls And joy-parks. If you leave it early, friend, Why, think you have gone to find a better inn; You have paid your fare and leave no enemies. The lingerer tires, loses his fare, grows old, And lacks he knows not what: moons round and seeks To find an enemy and a plotting world, And no smooth passage when, in time, he goes! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DEATH THE LEVELLER by MENANDER MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND by MENANDER THE EPITREPONTES (THE ARBITRATION): CHARISIUS REBUKES HIMSELF by MENANDER THE FAMILY DINNER-PARTY by MENANDER THE MUTES IN LIFE'S CHORUS by MENANDER THIS DEFILETH A MAN by MENANDER |
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