Sic Mihi Vita
Fessa prius somno quam tradas lumina, dices:
Fugit ut ista dies, sic mihi vita fugit.
Source: François Oudin (1673-1752), Silva Distichorum, 107. Meter: Elegiac. Note the use of the future dices as a kind of command.
Before you consign (prius quam tradas) your tired eyes (fessa lumina) to sleep (somno), you will say (dices): As the day speeds away (ut ista dies fugit), thus my life speeds away (sic mihi vita fugit).
The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. All the words in this poem are on that list:
dīcō dīcere dīxī dictum: say; causam dicere, plead a case; diem dicere, appoint a day
diēs diēī m./f.: day
ego meī mihi mē: I, me
fessus -a -um: weary, tired
fugiō fugere fūgī fugitum: flee, escape
iste ista istud: that, that of yours; adv. istīc or istūc: over there; istinc: from over there
lūmen luminis n.: light
prior -ius: earlier, preceding; prius or priusquam: before
quam: how?; (after comparative) than
sīc: in this manner, thus; sīc . . . ut: in the same way as
somnus -ī m.: sleep, slumber; (pl.) dreams
trādō -dere -didī -ditum: hand over, yield
ut, uti: as (+ indic.); so that, with the result that (+ subj.)
vīta -ae f.: life
