Today, as I continue to wait for concrete signs of improvement, I think of two poems from antiquity. The first is from our friend Horatius Quintus Flaccus, better known as the first century BC Augustan poet, Horace. His eleventh Carmen from his first book of Odes ends with the lines
dum loquimur, fugerit invida
aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.
which in my mind translates to
even while we are speaking, envious life will have fled away:
gather ye rosebuds while ye may, with little trust in the next day.
There's a lot of hullabaloo about translating "carpe diem" since carpere is a verb used for harvesting and so it does mean something like "sieze the day," but not really. "Pluck the day" or "Harvest the day" is better, but less poetic.
So, I prefer to translate the controversial phrase with a line from a different famous poem with the same meaning by the 17th Century English poet Robert Herrick.
To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.
The message being to get as much out of today as possible, not necessarily to be pessimistic about tomorrow, but to be joyful and fulfilled right now, because time just doesn't stop.
The second ancient poem is one some of you may have heard yesterday, which was Ash Wednesday, and tells us that no matter what befalls us today, we have refuge in our God.
Psalm 46
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8 Come and see what the LORD has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
(NIV 2011)
We all have wonderful lives, even when there are problems. Live your life and love those in your life.
Today is also a Dave Matthews Band day, because I declare it so. Here are two of my favorites, although I must admit that I like them all, even the politically correct songs. The band is just too good. The second I could only find a solo performance, but it is actually a very beautiful rendition. I'm glad y'all like my music. I'll try to leave this post up as long as possible until there's some actual news on my condition to report. Right now everything is status quo.
