Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam by Ernest Dowson

Vita Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam (translation: “They are not long, the weeping and the laughter”) (1896) is the source of the phrase that Dowson coined: “Days of wine and roses.”

They are not long, the weeping and the laughter.
Love and desire and hate:
I think they have no portion in us after
We pass the gate.
They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream.