Classic and Contemporary Poetry
WILL YOU LOVE ME WHEN I'M OLD, by ANONYMOUS First Line: Will affection still infold me Last Line: Will thy love endure till then? Subject(s): Aging;love | ||||||||
WILL affection still infold me When the day of life declines, When old age with ruthless rigor Plows my face in furrowed lines; When the eye forgets its seeing, And the hand forgets its skill, And the very words prove rebel To the mind's once kingly will; When the deaf ear, strained to listen, Scarcely hears the opening word, And the unfathomed depths of feeling Are by no swift current stirred; When fond memory, like a limner, Many a line perspective casts, Spreading out our bygone pleasures On the canvas of the Past; When the leaping blood grows sluggish, And the fire of youth has fled; When the friends who now surround us Half are numbered with the dead; When the years appear to shorten, Scarcely leaving us a trace; When old Time with bold approaches Marks his dial on my face; When our present hopes, all gathered, Lie like dead flowers on our track; When the whole of our existence Is one fearful looking back; When each wasted hour of talent, Hardly measured now at all, Sends its witness back to haunt us, Like the writing on the wall; When the ready tongue is palsied, And the form is bowed with care; When our only hope is Heaven, And our only help is prayer; When our idols, broken round us, Fall amid the ranks of men; Until Death uplifts the curtain, Will thy love endure till then? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE INVENTION OF LOVE by MATTHEA HARVEY TWO VIEWS OF BUSON by ROBERT HASS A LOVE FOR FOUR VOICES: HOMAGE TO FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN by ANTHONY HECHT AN OFFERING FOR PATRICIA by ANTHONY HECHT LATE AFTERNOON: THE ONSLAUGHT OF LOVE by ANTHONY HECHT A SWEETENING ALL AROUND ME AS IT FALLS by JANE HIRSHFIELD TIS A LITTLE JOURNEY by ANONYMOUS |
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