Odes 4.7 (Gladstone): Diffugere Nives

Snows melt away; the fields are flecked with grass,
And foliage clothes the tree,
Earth shifts her dress, the rivers shrunken pass,
And travel to the sea.

The Graces three, and Nymphs, no longer cower,
But twine, unclad, the dance:
Learn from the changes of the year and hour;
No daring hopes advance.

Warm blow the winds; on Spring shall Summertread,
Then yield herself her breath;
Now, Autumn sheds her fruits, then Winter, dead,
Leads Nature back to death.

The hastening moons all waste in heaven repair:
We, when we once descend
To Tullus, Ancus, sire Aeneas, there
In dust and shadow end.

Will the gods grant a morrow for to-day?
No mortal can declare;
Give! all thou giv'st with open hand away
Escapes thy greedy heir.

Once thou art dead, once Minos on his bench
Thy doom for thee hath writ,
Birth, eloquence, devotion, nought can wrench
Thy spirit from the pit,

Torquatus! Still in Dian's awful bond
Hippolytus remains;
Nor from Pirithous, in friendship fond,
Can Theseus break his chains.