Busy, curious, thirsty fly!

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Busy, curious, thirsty fly!
Drink with me and drink as I:
Freely welcome to my cup,
Couldst thou sip and sip it up:
Make the most of life you may,
Life is short and wears away.

Both alike are mine and thine
Hastening quick to their decline:
Thine's a summer, mine's no more,
Though repeated to threescore.
Threescore summers, when they're gone,
Will appear as short as one!

William Oldys. 1687–1761

Image nabbed from here.

Comments

RennyBA said…
Never heard that - thanks for sharing and for the lovely picture too!
Have a great end to your week:-)
July 08, 2006 12:44 PM
ghee said…
I remember,when i was a kid,my granpa thought us a song from his old,thick book that i forgot the title..

it says:
i feel-i feel-i feel
i feel-like-a-morning star

shooo fly,dont bother me,
shoo fly dont bother me..

do u know that song?
i never heard it to anyone,and nobody taught us that song in school ,LOL!i just wonder if that song really existed before.

and this nursery rhyme i like..

There was an old woman who swallowed a fly,
Oh my!swallowed a fly?poor old woman,I think she`ll die..

There was an old woman who swallowed a spider,she swallowed a spider to kill the fly,
Oh my!swallowed a fly?poor old woman i think she`ll die..

and it ended up with a cow,
she died of course!was the last phrase.

Are you familiar with it,too?
July 08, 2006 2:06 PM
Mother of Invention said…
Okay, so I spent my life at summer camp so I just have to say..."I Know an old lady who swallowed a fly...I don't know why she swallowed that fly, perhaps she'll die!" I could go on but there's no campfire! HA! HA!
July 08, 2006 2:21 PM
Mother of Invention said…
Wait, I think it must end with "swallowed a horse, she died of course!"
Hmm! I'm missing camp!
July 08, 2006 2:23 PM
Barbara said…
I'm sure flies occupy some important place in the food chain, but I'll be damned if I know what it is! Flies and mosquitoes -- insects I could do without!
July 08, 2006 6:30 PM
Richard said…
rennyba: it is a pretty old poem. I have an interest in things regarding mortality, but not an obession - it does not occupy most of my thoughts (too many other things going up there).

ghee: I am familiar with shoo fly and the old woman who swallowed a fly. I recite the latter to my kids sometimes.

MOI: I have been to camp only once. I remember the song from a short film about it. I think it was produced by the NFB (National Film Board of Canada, but I could be wrong).

barbara: flies are very important to the ecology, notwithstanding how annoying they are.
July 09, 2006 8:28 AM
ghee said…
Oh,Im glad that "shoo fly" really existed! ;)
July 10, 2006 12:24 PM
Richard said…
Yes, you were not imagining
July 10, 2006 6:38 PM
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