The Last Laugh
Horace: Epode 15
“Nox erat et cælo fulgebat Luna sereno——”
“How sweet the moonlight sleeps,” I quoted,
“Upon this bank!” that starry night—
The night you vowed you’d be devoted—
I’ll tell the world you held me tight.
The night you said until Orion
Should cease to whip the wintry sea,
Until the lamb should love the lion,
You would, you swore, be all for me.
Some day, Neæra, you’ll be sorry.
No mollycoddle swain am I.
I shall not sit and pine, by gorry!
Because you’re with some other guy!
No, I shall turn my predilection
Upon some truer, fairer Jane;
And all your prayer and genuflexion
For my return shall be in vain.
And as for you, who choose to sneer, O,
Though deals in lands and stocks you swing,
Though handsome as a movie hero,
Though wise you are—and everything;
Yet, when the loss of her you’re mourning,
How I shall laugh at all your woe!
How I’ll remind you of this warning,
And laugh, “Ha! ha! I told you so!”