Tempus
fugit.
There
is a quiz question ‘Which is the most frequently used word in conversation;
time, work or money?’ The answer is
time, which says much about the way we all live.
When they
are at a loss for the right word, people say ‘There’s a good expression for
this in German.’ or ‘The French have a word for it.’ ‘Le mot juste’ in fact! When it comes to the passing of time, Latin
seems to say best what needs to be said. ‘Tempus edax rerum.’
Today
we have two poems about how fast time passes.
There is not much we can do about this and every year seems to go
quicker than the one before.
Well, perhaps
there is something. Follow the advice of
the sundial in the gardens of the Palais Royal in Paris.
‘Horas
non numero nisi serenas.’ ‘I only count the happy hours.’
By
definition sundials only count the sunny hours, which is a happy thought too.
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