Franklin P. Adams (15 November 1881 – 23 March 1960 / Chicago, Illinois)

AD LEUCONOEN

Horace: Book I, Ode 13.

_'Tu ne quoesieris, scire nefas-'_


It is not right for you to know, so do not ask,
Leuconoe,
How long a life the gods may give or ever we
are gone away;
Try not to read the Final Page, the ending
colophonian,
Trust not the gypsy's tea-leaves, nor the
prophets Babylonian.
Better to have what is to come enshrouded
in obscurity
Than to be certain of the sort and length of
our futurity.
Why, even as I monologue on wisdom and
longevity
How Time has flown! Spear some of it!
The longest life is brevity.