Song XVI. Content

IF wealth could keep a man alive,
I'ld only study how to thrive;
That having got a mighty mass,
I might bribe the fates to let me pass:
But since we can't prolong our years,
Why spend we time in needless sighs and tears?
For since Destiny
Has decreed us to die,
And all must pass o're the old ferry;
Hang riches and cares,
Since we ha'nt many years,
We'l have a short life and a merry,

Times keep their round, and destiny,
Observes no whe'r we laugh or cry,
And Fortune never does bestow,
A look on what we do below:
But men with equal swiftness run
To prey on others, or be prey'd upon;
Since we can take no course,
To be better or worse,
Let none be a melancholly thinker;
Let the Times the round go,
So the cups do so too,
Ne'r blush at the name of a Drinker.