«Quant'è bella giovinezza, Che si fugge tuttavia! Chi vuol esser lieto, sia: di doman non c'è certezza»
— Lorenzo de’Medici
Yes! while Youth and Health are mine
I will shun the shaft of sorrow,
Bend today at pleasure’s shrine,
None are certain of tomorrow.
Youth, tho’ like the rainbow bright,
Like the rainbow melts away:
Yet I’ll catch the glorious sight
Ere its brilliant tints decay.
At the withering hand of time
Soon the rose of health may pine,
But while blooming in its prime
Be its treasured perfume mine.
Mirth their reign shall long extend
And a brighter charm shall give,
The warmth that bids the rose expand,
The sun that bids the rainbow live.
Some in youth are never young —
Some in age are ever gay,
Time unheeded flies along,
Ev’ry month to them is May.
Then while Youth and Health are mine
I will shun the shaft of sorrow —
Bend today at pleasure’s shrine
None are certain of tomorrow.
If tomorrow grief should bring
I can greet her with a smile,
Soften down her keenest sting,
Half her bitterness beguile.
Expectation cools our joys,
But to grief imparts new pain;
Fear’s dark cloud our bliss destroys
When delight alone should reign.
Then I will not think how soon
Joy’s ambrosial cup may sour,
Nor amid the blaze of noon
Shrink from midnight’s frigid hour.
Still while Youth and Health are mine
I will shun the shaft of sorrow;
Bend today at pleasure’s shrine
Nor fear the care that comes tomorrow.