Less swiftly did the arrow penetrate...

Less swiftly did the arrow penetrate
its aim, a chariot was less intent
when racing on arena’s voiceless sand
than our resolute and cruel fate.

How it gallops to cut and terminate
our life! A man unfit to comprehend,
being stripped of reason, hears in the end
the comet’s warning sound, feels its blade.

You are in danger, Lycius, in case
you do not know what Carthage did confess.
Stop chasing shadows, do not sit and gaze.

The hours will not pardon you at death,
these hours that consume escaping days,
the days that gnaw inevitable years.


* * *


Menos solicitу veloz saeta
destinada seсal, que mordiу aguda;
agonal carro por la arena muda
no coronу con mбs silencio meta,

que presurosa corre, que secreta
a su fin nuestra edad. A quien lo duda,
(fiera que sea de razуn desnuda)
cada sol repetido es un cometa.

їConfiйsalo Cartago, y tъ lo ignoras?
Peligro corres, Licio, si porfнas
en seguir sombras y abrazar engaсos.

Mal te perdonarбn a ti las horas;
las horas que limando estбn los dнas,
los dнas que royendo estбn los aсos.