TO THE VIRGINS, TO MAKE MUCH OF TIME
Seize the day my friends, seize the day…
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.
The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he’s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he’s to setting.
That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.
Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime,
You may for ever tarry.
(Robert Herrick)
I spent a lot of time hooking up. The younger I was (20s) the more I focused on quality (“love”), but eventually I did the bath houses and group thing, etc. When the retirement era comes, I’m not sure it makes that much difference whether you fucked your brains out or held off. I had a *lot* of sex (and some romance, too), but now it just feels like it did when I was a virginal 12. It’s over, and it is hard to imagine that it even happened. Kindof like it’s all been erased.
Ultimately the message of the poem goes beyond sex.
For me it’s a reminder to get off my computer and go outside to engage with the world.
And I don’t mind if sex is a part of the engagement with the world.