Short and Sweet

They say this World’s a fleeting show,
    And life a passing vapor; –
A play so poor & quick to go
    It isn’t worth the taper!
But midge, who lives an hour or so
    Finds time enough to caper.

If life is only for a day
    More fool is Grief to waste it;
Did young Delight brook us no delay
    Good speed was theirs who chased it;
The bliss that soonest flits away
    Bids Wisdom run to taste it.

Because the baby-age is fleet
    More fondly do we love it;
That youth is just as brief as sweet
    The more it charms we erect;
A rose forever bloomed, complete,
    Would find us slow to snuff it!

The lightning dynamo gets power
    From pulses short & quick on’t;
A Kiss that lasted for an hour
    Were anything but piquant!
Why, even a sermon, stretched to more
    Than “Trueluthly” makes ye sick o’ut!

Then catch the fleet good on the fly;
    When falls the sunshine use it;
The short, sweet hour that hurries by
    Live well, & not abuse it,
Take every glad gift from on high,
    ‘Tis churlish to refuse it!