BEFORE I end this glorious batch
Of deathless verses, friend Mæcenas,
I’ve something still to add, to snatch
One laurel more to share between us.
(I mention all of this to no man
Except perhaps a friend—or Roman.)
Now that my time has come to die
(Within a score or two of years),
I wish to have it known that I
Shall gladly leave this “vale of tears,”