Friday, May 17, 2013

take the present



Ode I.11
Horace (65-8 B.C.E.)

Leucon, no one’s allowed to know his fate,
Not you, not me: don’t ask, don’t hunt for answers
In tea leaves or palms. Be patient with whatever comes.
This could be our last winter, it could be many
More, pounding the Tuscan Sea on these rocks:
Do what you must, be wise, cut your vines
And forget about hope. Time goes running, even
As we talk. Take the present, the future’s no one’s affair.


[translated by Burton Raffel]



3 comments:

  1. How's that for living in the now...way back B.C.!

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  2. Ah, he was wise. As are you. Thank you.

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  3. Very nice quote! I've never seen this before, but concur completely. "Be patient with whatever comes" — in theory, it seems so simple, yet, in practice, it is so difficult to achieve.

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