carpe diem - a descriptive term for literature that urges readers to live for the moment [from the Latin phrase "seize the day," used by Horace]. The theme, which was widely used in 16th- and 17th-century love poetry, is best exemplified by a familiar stanza from Robert Herrick's "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" :  Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

 Old time is still a-flying;

And this same flower that smiles today

 Tomorrow will be dying.