Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, OLD AGE, by WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE LECKY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OLD AGE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Now the solemn shadows lengthen
Last Line: Old men only ask for rest.
Subject(s): Aging


NOW the solemn shadows lengthen,
Life's long day is well nigh done,
Impulse fails and habits strengthen,
Pleasures vanish one by one.
Feebly o'er the dark'ning dial,
Parting rays their image fling;
Times of triumph, times of trial,
Lose their rapture, lose their sting.

How much now appears unreal
In the past that stirred us so:
Pinings for the high ideal,
Passion's dreams, ambition's glow;
All life's aims grow dimmer, fainter,
With a languid, calm decay,
Fading as the mighty Painter
Shades the scene with twilight grey.

Fancy dies. Illusions follow.
Love lasts best, but not its bloom;
And the gayest laugh sounds hollow,
Echoed from an op'ning tomb.
Soon the past holds all our treasure,
All that childless age loves best.
Young men still may live for pleasure:
Old men only ask for rest.





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