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Home  »  The Book of Restoration Verse  »  William Oldys (1696–1761)

William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910.

On a Fly

William Oldys (1696–1761)

BUSY, curious, thirsty fly!

Drink with me and drink as I;

Freely welcome to my cup,

Couldst thou sip and sip it up:

Make the most of life you may,

Life is short and wears away.

Both alike are mine and thine

Hastening quick to their decline:

Thine’s a summer, mine’s no more,

Though repeated to threescore.

Threescore summers, when they’re gone,

Will appear as short as one!