Odes 1.4 (Martin): Solvitur Acris Hiems

Now biting Winter fled, sweet Spring is come instead,
And barks long stranded high and dry put out again from shore;
Now the ox forsakes his byre, and the husbandman his fire,
And daisy-dappled meadows bloom where winter frosts lay hoar.

By Cytherea led, while the moon shines overhead,
The Nymphs and Graces, hand-in-hand, with alternating feet.
Shake the ground, while swinking Vulcan strikes the sparkles fierce and red
From the forges of the Cyclops, dun with smoke and lurid heat.

'Tis the time with myrtle green to bind our glistening locks,
Or with flowers, wherein the loosen'd earth herself hath newly dress'd,
And to sacrifice to Faunus in some glade amidst the rocks
A yearling lamb, or else a kid, if such delight him best.

Death comes alike to all, — to the monarch's lordly hall,
Or the hovel of the beggar, and his summons none shall stay.
O Sestius, happy Sestius! use the moments as they pass;
Far-reaching hopes are not for us, the creatures of a day.

Full soon shall night enshroud thee in the Manes' phantom crowd,
And the bare and narrow mansion of Pluto close thee in;
And thou shalt not banish care by the ruddy winecup there,
Nor woo the gentle Lycidas, whom all are mad to win.