May 11
The snow has melted and now grass is greening the meadows,
the leaves are greening the branches.
Earth’s cycle continues, the spring rush has passed
through the rivers
and now the nymphs join the dance
of their sweet sister Venus, the greatest of Graces,
whose beauty we see most nakedly now.
Delight is never eternal, the hours tell us, and the years,
as they sweetly rush away.
The west wind warms our shoulders, spring will soon
surrender to summer, and it in turn
will be ruined by autumn with its prodigal harvest,
and then stiff winter again.
The moon changes too, so swiftly, but as swiftly
it is renewed. And we, too, are but slaves to time.
Soon, soon, we will be gone,
gone into dust and shadow.
-Horace
The dance of life rushes through us at all times of the year, but in spring and summer it seems more urgent, more vibrant—more naked, as Horace says. How easy it is to pretend, in such times, that the cycle will end, that life will continue always at such a high and splendid note.
But life is not like that. Ancient wisdom reminds us that the beauties of the flowering season are but preparation for the harvest, just as the rigors of winter are necessary for the eventual flourishing of another springtime. It need not destroy our joy in the beauteous, bountiful present to remember that such good things will end. Holding such awareness, in the face of the naked beauty of life’s springtime, makes that beauty all the more poignant and meaningful. Carpe diem, the Romans said: seize the day. Living in the present is more likely if we realize how brief its momentary beauties truly are.
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