Time will pass
Too
For the young
That now jest
...
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Two things are happening and one thing is predicted in this tightly coiled and compressed poem. The things happening include an aging poet still asserting himself by singing and he sings of the pleasures of life, namely, poems, wine and song - all things associated with joie de vivre and the pleasures of living. The other thing happening is young people are mocking this man they consider too old, too washed up, too foolish. Oh, Youth, don't you realize time is at this moment is aging you and you too will be like this old man. Will you have his bright voice and elan vital or will you be bent over inside as well as outside. a prey to the ravages of time and despair?
We grow old too soon and yet, it seems an eternity was given for existing, though on the last day of life it will be impossible to remember all the days or comprehend their combined weight of living.