LVI.

For «IS» and «IS-NOT» though with Rule and Line And «UP-AND-DOWN» by Logic I define, Of all that one should care to fathom, I Was never deep in anything but--Wine.

This quatrain is translated from O. 120:

I know the outwardness of existence and non-existence,[66] I know the inwardness of all that is high and low; Nevertheless let me be ashamed of[67] my own knowledge If I recognise any degree higher than drunkenness.

_Ref._: O. 120, L. 523, B. 518, S.P. 299, P. 265, B. ii. 409, P. v. 38.--W. 336, N. 300, V. 563.

LVII.*

Ah, but my Computations, People say, Reduced the Year to better reckoning?--Nay, 'Twas only striking from the Calendar Unborn To-morrow and dead Yesterday.

This quatrain owes its inspiration to C. 381 and O. 20, ll. 3 and 4:

My enemies erroneously have called me a philosopher,[68] God knows I am not what they have called me; But, as I have come into this nesting place of sorrow, In the end I am in a still worse plight, for I know not who I am.

_Ref._: C. 381, L. 580, B. 573, B. ii. 383, T. 259.--W. 350, V. 619.

Never has grief lingered in my mind concerning two days,[69] The day that has not yet come, and the day that is past.

_Ref._: O. 20, C. 23 and 55, L. 84, S.P. 22, B. 80, P. 162, B. ii. 24 and 88, P. ii. 2, T. 22 and 305, P. v. 140 and 186.--W. 26, N. 22 and 42, V. 83.