"They Are Not Long" by Earnest Dowson

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.

--Earnest Dowson

Everything passes away, and this life is but a few moments. I love the phrase "the days of wine and roses", although I'd think that would apply to us all our lives. Well, not me, but the roses part and the idea of celebration. Celebrations don't end with the end of youth, although I don't think the poem is saying that they do. I like the idea of this life being the days of wine and roses. I don't think I agree with Dowson's conception of the afterlife as a place where there are no more emotions and there are no more celebrations, but I agree with him that whatever the next life may bring, this life is not very long.

This poem is in my planner towards the middle of the beginning, and that means it is pre-mission. I can't remember writing it in the planner and I don't remember what I was thinking at the time. My handwriting is sloppy, and that's honestly why I rarely reread it and therefore did not reinforce what I thought of it before. I am loving this project of placing the contents of my planner online. I've missed my literary memory.