Pereunt Omnia
Quod fuit, est, et erit, periit spatio brevis horae;
Ergo parum refert esse, fuisse, fore.
Source: The Book of Sun-Dials (ed. Gatty, Eden, and Lloyd). Meter: Elegiac. Note the special idiom: rē fert, written rēfert, meaning that "it matters, it is of importance" (not to be confused with the compound verb refert.
That which was, is and will be (quod fuit, est, et erit) has perished (periit) in the space of a brief hour (spatio brevis horae); therefore it matters little (ergo refert parum) to be, to have been, to be in the future (esse, fuisse fore).
The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. All the words in this poem are on that list:
brevis -e: short, shallow, brief; adv. breviter
ergo: therefore
et: and
ferō ferre tulī lātum: bear, carry
hōra -ae f.: hour
parum: too little
pereō -īre -iī -itum: perish, be lost
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
rēs reī f.: thing (rēs pūblica, commonwealth; rēs familiāris, family property, estate; rēs mīlitāris, art of war; rēs novae, revolution)
spatium -iī n.: space
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
