To the Virgins, to make much of Time

Nahum · #1 07-26-2008, 12:43 AM

Robert Herrick. 1591–1674

248. To the Virgins, to make much of Time

GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he 's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he 's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime,
You may for ever tarry.

Nahum · #2 07-26-2008, 12:52 AM

Memento mori is a Latin phrase that may be translated as "Remember that you are mortal," "Remember you will die," "Remember that you must die," or "Remember your death". It names a genre of artistic creations that vary widely from one another, but which all share the same purpose, which is to remind people of their own mortality.

In ancient Rome, the phrase is said to have been used on the occasions when a Roman general was parading through the streets of Rome during the victory celebration known as a triumph. Standing behind the victorious general was a slave, and he had the task of reminding the general that, though he was up on the peak today, tomorrow was another day. The servant did this by telling the general that he should remember that he was mortal: "Memento mori." It is also possible that the servant said, rather, "Respice post te! Hominem te esse memento!": "Look behind you! Remember that you are but a man!", as noted in Tertullian in his Apologeticus

The concept, in the art of classical antiquity, was more frequently embodied in the phrase carpe diem, or "seize the day," a phrase most well-known from Horace's ode to Leuconoe, This carries echoes of the admonishment to "eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die", the language of which originates in Isaiah 22:13: "But look! you feast and celebrate, you slaughter oxen and butcher sheep, You eat meat and drink wine: 'Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!'" The memento mori and carpe diem appear elsewhere in Roman literature most notably in Horace's Odes (e.g. Odes 1.4 to Lucius Sestius, 2.3 to Quintus Dellius, 2.14 to Postumus, and 4.7 to Torquatus). This theme is repeated in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, stanza XXXV: '..."While you live, / "Drink!—for, once dead, you never shall return."' And the popular theme of "Timor mortis conturbat me, quilla inferno nulla est redemptio"...The Fear Of Death Torments Me Because In Hell There Is No Redemption.

Nahum · #3 07-26-2008, 12:54 AM

Ecclesiastes 9
1For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.

2All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

3This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

4For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

5For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

6Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

7Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.

8Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.

9Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.

10Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

11I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

12For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

Nahum · #4 07-26-2008, 01:03 AM

John Askham (ca. 1825-1894)

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Work While it is Day

"Work while it is yet day, for the night cometh on when no man can work."

Work while the day is long,
While the right arm is strong,
While the life-blood is young,
Night cometh on.

Work while the sun is high,
In the bright smiling sky;
Swiftly life's minutes fly:
Night cometh on.

Strive with thy heart and soul;
Press to the distant goal;
Waste not the hours that roll:
Night cometh on.

Life is a season lent;
Moments are treasures sent;
See that they're wisely spent:
Night cometh on.

What thy hand finds to do,
That, with thy might, pursue,
With a brave heart and true:
Night cometh on.

What though we toil in pain,
Twill not be all in vain;
Haste then the good to gain:
Night cometh on.

What though grief rack the breast?
Doth there not come a rest?
Let us then do our best:
Night cometh on.

Nahum · #5 07-26-2008, 01:05 AM

John 9.4: "We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work."

Barb · #6 07-26-2008, 02:52 AM

From the Amplified...

Ephesians 5:11-17

11 Take no part in and have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds and enterprises of darkness, but instead [let your lives be so in contrast as to] expose and reprove and convict them.

12 For it is a shame even to speak of or mention the things that [such people] practice in secret.

13 But when anything is exposed and reproved by the light, it is made visible and clear; and where everything is visible and clear there is light.

14 Therefore He says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine (make day dawn) upon you and give you light. [Isa 26:19; 60:1,2.]

15 Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people),

16 Making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil.

17 Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is.