The poem
Drink and dance and laugh and lie, Love, the reeling midnight through, For tomorrow we shall die! (But, alas, we never do.)
The Flaw in Paganism
7Death and Taxes
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if we live for the moment, as if there is no tomorrow, then reality in the cold light of the day is the flaw
I don't think Dorothy took herself or her poetry even all that seriously. This poem makes me think of just how we literally feel after a night of careless drinking and debauchery. This poem isn't meant to moralize, but is simply an observation.
I happen to like the poem, I use it often to tell peole why I do not drink.
I think this short but sweet poem captures the very essence of the 1920's, live for today as if you are going to die tomorrow, but you never do....drink and have the best time of your life until that actually happens...that was the 1920's right?