'When we are grown up we are sure to alter
Much for the better, to adopt soldier creeds;
The kingcup will cease proffering his cup
And the foam will have blown from the beer and the heat no longer dance
And the lift lose fascination and the May
Change her tune to June - but the trouble with us mayflies
Is that we never have the chance to be grown up.'
They never have the chance, but what of time they have
They stretch out taut and thin and ringing clear;
So we, whose strand of life is not much more,
Let us too make our time elastic and
Inconsequently dance above the dazzling wave.
Taken from Mayfly by Louis MacNeice
This poem came out for the Lit paper today. I was really planning to do poetry for the first section, and when I saw this, I got panicky cause I had no idea what it meant. But after slowly reading through, I kinda got the idea of it. The poem actually has 7 stanzas but the two above kinda sums up the main main point of it. Of course I did not know what Mayflies were then, but I just googled it, and apparently, Mayflies are insects from the Order Ephemeroptera (short-lived winged creatures), and as adult insects, they only live from about a few minutes to a few days.
So now that I know this, the poem just makes more sense. I just wrote about time needing to be seized and made use of wisely, how life is transient and time will pass. Kinda wished I knew about Mayflies before I went for the exam. Haha but I enjoyed reading the poem today, even though it was followed up with a lot of writing :)
