Häromdagen citerade jag Ovidius livsbejakande och lustbetonade uppmaning till ungdomar. En som följde i hans anda var Robert Herrick i en dikt från 1648:

J W Waterhouse, "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may" (1908)

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.

Att Robert Louis Stevenson har läst den här dikten är uppenbart. Läs bara vad han diktar, drygt tvåhundra år senare:

J W Waterhouse, "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may" (1908)

Gather Ye Roses

Gather ye roses while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying;
A world where beauty fleets away
Is no world for denying.
Come lads and lasses, fall to play
Lose no more time in sighing

The very flowers you pluck to-day
To-morrow will be dying;
And all the flowers are crying,
And all the leaves have tongues to say,-
Gather ye roses while ye may.