Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, GROWING GRAY, by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

GROWING GRAY, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: A little more toward the light
Last Line: Belief with wishes.
Alternate Author Name(s): Dobson, Austin
Subject(s): Aging; Life


A little more toward the light.
Me miserum. Here's one that's white,
And one that's turning;
Adieu to song and "salad days."
My Muse, let's go at once to Jay's
And order mourning.
We must reform our rhymes, my dear,
Renounce the gay for the severe,--
Be grave, not witty;
We have no more the right to find
That Pyrrha's hair is neatly twined,
That Chloe's pretty.
Young Love's for us a farce that's played;
Light canzonet and serenade
No more may tempt us;
Gray hairs but in accord with dreams;
From aught but sour didactic themes
Our years exempt us.
"A la bonne heure!" You fancy so?
You think for one white streak we grow
At once satiric?
A fiddlestick! Each hair's a string
To which our graybeard Muse shall sing
A younger lyric.
Our heart's still sound. Shall "cakes and ale"
Grow rare to youth because we rail
At school-boy dishes?
Perish the thought! 'T is ours to sing,
Though neither Time nor Tide can bring
Belief with wishes.




Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net