Poem for a Happy Man

Looking for a suitable funeral poem for man who has lived a long and happy life? What better than “Happy the Man” by Horace.

It was written by the Roman poet,  Quintus Horatios Flaccus, known in the English speaking world as “Horace” around 30BC. Luckily for us, it was translated from Latin into English by John Dryden in 1685, and it is this version that I share with you. Happy the Man By Horace

(Quintus Horatios Flaccus 65-8BC)

Happy the man, and happy he alone,

He who can call today his own:

He who, secure within, can say,

Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.

Be fair or foul, or rain or shine

The joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine.

Not heaven itself, upon the past has power,

But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.

Photo: Unsplash.