Men sometimes come and question me
How many years my age may be,
Seeing my temples silver now
And flecks of snow upon my brow.
This is the answer that I give
"When I count up the life I live
Applying all my reason's power,
I make the total just one hour."
"And how", my questioner replies
In accents of amazed surprise,
"Mak'st thou this sum, which seems to me
Beyond all credibility?"
"One day", I answer," she I love
All other earthly things above
Lay in my arms, and like a thought
Her lips with mine I swiftly sought.
"And though the years before I die
Stretch out interminably, I
Shall only count my life in truth
As that brief hour of happy youth." -
Auteur: Abu Muhammad Ali ibn Hazm