Classic Poem

The varying moods of Spring and western winds stern Winter chase away;
The sailors roll their dry-keeled ships to sea;
The ploughman leaves his cheerful hearth, and happy herds forsake their stalls,
And hoar-frosts cease to robe the fields in white.

Now Cytherean Venus leads her chorus 'neath the impending moon;
The comely Graces with the Nymphs unite
To beat the earth with alternate feet; while Vulcan, reddened by the flames,
The Cyclops' lab'ring forges fiercely heats.

'Tis fitting now to bind the oil-anointed head with myrtle green,
Or flowers the out-thawed earth in plenty bears:
To Faunus, also, thou shouldst sacrifice, in shady groves, a lamb,
Or, if it better please him, choose a kid.

Pale Death, impartial, knocks with equal feet at poor men's cabin doors
And kingly halls; O Sextius, richly blest!
The sum of Life's contracted span forbids us hold far-reaching hopes:
Soon night will thee oppress, the fabled shades,

And Pluto's narrow realm, wherein, when once thou take thy destined place,
Thou shalt not win by dice to rule the wine;
Nor tender Lycidas admire, whose beauty now all youth inspires,
And maidens too, ere long, will madly love.