The moment of the rose...

"The moment of the rose and the moment of the yew-tree
Are of equal duration."

                                       ~ T.S. Eliot, from Little Gidding

Poem about a brief life, "the days of wine and roses" (Ernest Dowson)

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.

                                               ~ Ernest Dowson