A Response to Carpe Diem

The purpose of a carpe diem poem is to procure the affections of a beloved by reminding her that life is short. As I was writing a poem this evening, it evolved into an imagined woman's response to the sentiment.

To His Coy Mistress

Andrew Marvell

Had we but world enough, and time,

This coyness, Lady, were no crime

We would sit down and think which way

To walk and pass our long love's day.

Thou by the Indian Ganges' side

Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide

Of Humber would complain. I would

Love you ten years before the Flood,

And you should, if you please, refuse

Till the conversion of the Jews.

My vegetable love should grow

Vaster than empires, and more slow;

An hundred years should go to praise

Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;

Two hundred to adore each breast,

But thirty thousand to the rest;

An age at least to every part,

And the last age should show your heart.

For, Lady, you deserve this state,

Nor would I love at lower rate.

But at my back I always hear

Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near;

And yonder all before us lie

Deserts of vast eternity.

Thy beauty shall no more be found,

Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound

My echoing song: then worms shall try

That long preserved virginity,

And your quaint honour turn to dust,

And into ashes all my lust:

The grave 's a fine and private place,

But none, I think, do there embrace.

Now therefore, while the youthful hue

Sits on thy skin like morning dew,

And while thy willing soul transpires

At every pore with instant fires,

Now let us sport us while we may,

And now, like amorous birds of prey,

Rather at once our time devour

Than languish in his slow-chapt power.

Let us roll all our strength and all

Our sweetness up into one ball,

And tear our pleasures with rough strife

Thorough the iron gates of life:

Thus, though we cannot make our sun

Stand still, yet we will make him run.

I'll Give You "Carpe Diem"!

Don't tell me again that I'm "desperate"

Don't think that you know what I need.

By saying you "know" that I'm lonely

You're only revealing your greed.

Are you just afraid of rejection?

Is that why you say, "Seize the day?"

Threats of old age are pathetic.

Can't you woo me in some other way?

Perhaps you need women's approval,

Or you're worried you won't find romance

Lest you tell me that I'm growing older

And assume you're my very last chance

Please realize my candor will help you.

When you meet a cute girl in her prime,

Don't say she's a spinster without you

And your luck might be better next time.

I'm not sure how I feel about the final result--it changed a lot while I was writing it. It was very acerbic at first, but I mellowed it as I wrote. I'm thinking of writing another similarly themed poem, but using more elevated language. It is definitely fun, though, to write a poem with a less mature tone occasionally. Plus, this proves that you can write poems with dactylic feet!