Often at the beginning of my beach wanders, I will pick a subject that will fully exercise my thoughts. I will then analyze it, sometimes to a satisfactory conclusion and other times not. The subjects can be extremely diverse, ranging from life’s journey, to personal or current news issues, to my interest in world war history, all the way up to occasional attempt to understand the theories of Albert Einstein, on relativity and gravity as a curvature of spacetime and so much more.
This afternoon’s subject was one I have covered many times before, that is ~ why time in the form of weeks, months and years is moving along far too fast for me. Early next week we enter into the fall season. I ask, how did that happen so fast...? It was not too long ago that summer started, and now it has gone in what feels like an instant. When I was a Wee Laddie growing up in Scotland, time seemed to be mostly static, but now the months appear to be in a race with the weeks, and the weeks seem to be making ground on the days. It certainly a fact, the older I get, the more difficult it seems to just keep up with it.
It is abundantly clear ~ while living within this helter skelter world that is rapidly creating its own chaotic history ~ our presence is very short, we exist briefly, only long enough to witness life’s ineluctable capacity for change. While pacing along Cherry Hill Beach this afternoon, with my thoughts consumed by the brevity and transient nature of life, I was reminded of a poem I came across a few years ago ~
“Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam”, written
in 1896 by Ernest Christopher 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.
Translated into English from the original Latin, the poems title is ~
“The brief sum of life forbids us the hope of enduring long”.
The poem takes care to highlight the things we feel or
experience, no matter how intense and relevant to our daily existence, do not
last long within the grand scheme of things, every emotion from joy to sorrow
fades, then vanishes when we pass on.
The message I take from this poem is, we should strive to have our own “days of wine and roses”. From personal experience I have learned those “days” will not come without effort, meaning you have to search for or create them for yourself. My days of wine and roses are now, living here in the South Shore, walking the beach today and doing things that make me smile ~ the type of smile you should have after a pleasant dream. The poem also warns, as I know too well by witnessing the haste of time ~ the days ~ “They are not long”, implying that we should enjoy them while we can.
In addition to its focus on the inevitable passage of time,
the poem also has a message in its preoccupation with mortality. Incredibly, by
the time I had reached the age of 19, I knew of five school friends who tragically
would never make it into their twenties. I am absolutely certain this direct
and early personal lesson about the fragility of life, provided me with the motivation,
and encouragement in life to reach my goals and ambitions, and when they are firmly in place be sure to
make the most of them.
My parents did not offer me much advice on life directions,
I think they preferred to let me get on with things with a level of confidence
that I would do alright. My dad however would remind me (often) that “tomorrow
belongs to nobody”, I have always lived by that one, while hoping that tomorrow
will come, so far I am in the fortunate position to say ~ it always has ….
Well that was today’s subject together with the journey my related
thoughts took me on ~ as usual, I still managed to take some pics …
