Carpe diem

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khamtran.com

In his poem ‘To Daffodils’, Robert Herrick expresses sadness over the brevity of life, both floral and human. He compares the human life with the daffodil’s short-lived bloom: it’s cut off too soon!

We have short time to stay, as you,

We have as short a spring;

As quick a growth to meet decay,

As you, or anything.

This literary work by the poet falls under the genre known as ‘carpe diem’. Poems of this nature remind us of the fleeting passage of time and the need to seize the day. They drum into our consciousness that men start dying the very moment they’re born. Yes, as time flies by, so do our weary days hasten to their inevitable end. Each newborn day for which we’re grateful draws demise closer to our gates.

Man that is born of a woman is of few days, full of trouble.

He comes forth like a flower, and withers; he flees like a shadow, and continues not.

―Job 14:1-2, RSV

We don’t get to live here indefinitely. Disease and other unfortunate events snuff our lives out, while those who escape tragic death eventually get old and pass on. This is sad but true. Sooner or later it will be ninety minutes of play, and the referee will blow his final whistle, after which the game will be over for us.

The central theme of Herrick’s message is that life’s very brief. Life’s too short we can’t always be around to pursue our ambitions, dreams, goals, and wishes. Life’s too short we leave behind our loved ones, who are very dear to us. We come to this world and return to dust like a flash.

Indeed, life’s transient we don’t always have chance to do everything we’d love to. Fortunately, however, life’s never too short to seek God out, to allow Him carve upon the tablets of our hearts His liberating truth. This is when we truly seize the day. May you and I have such a divine encounter before our race here is finished.

Life at best is very brief, like the falling of a leaf

―Author unknown