UBI SUNT

a verse form in which the poem or its stanzas begin with the Latin words ubi sunt (where are ) or their equivalent in another language and which has as a principal theme the transitory nature of all things. A well-known example is Franois Villon's Ballade des dames du temps jadis (Ballade of the Ladies of Bygone Times), with its refrain Mais o sont les neiges d'antan?'' (But where are the snows of yesteryear?).