Explore "Present Imperative" by Franklin P. Adams on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Horace: Book I, Ode 11 / _"Tu ne quaesieris -- scire nefas -- quem mihi; quem tibi"_ / AD LEUCONOEN
Nay, query not, Leuconoe, the finish of the fable; / Eliminate the worry as to what the years may hoard!
You only waste your time upon the Babylonian Table -- / (Slang for the Ouija board).
And as to whether Jupiter, the final, unsurpassed one, / May add a lot of winters to our portion here below, / Or this impinging season is to be our very last one -- / Really, I'd hate to know.
Apply yourself to wisdom! Sweep the floor and wash the dishes, / Nor dream about the things you'll do in 1928!
My counsel is to cease to sit and yearn about your wishes, / Cursing the throws of Fate.
My! how I have been chattering on matters sad and pleasant! / (Endure with me a moment while I polish off a rhyme).
If I were you, I think, I'd bother only with the present -- / Now is the only time.