Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam
by Ernest Christopher Dowson

Dilemas (1895), Verses (1896), Decorations in Verse and Prose (1899). Collection of his poems in The Poetical Works edited by Desmond Flower (1934).

They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,
Love and desire and hate:
I think they have no portion in us after
We pass the gate.

They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream.