I WANT MY VERSES TO BE LIKE JEWELS

I want my verses to be like jewels,
Able to endure into the far future
     Untarnished by the death
     That lurks in each thing,
Verses which forget the hard and sad
Brevity of our days, taking us back
     To that ancient freedom
     We’ve perhaps never known.
Here in these friendly, far-removed shadows
Where history ignores us, I remember those
     Who carefully weave
     Their carefree verses.
And remembering you above all others,
I write beneath the veiled sun
     And drink, immortal Horace,
     Superfluous, to your glory.

5 AUGUST 1923