Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


PORTRAIT OF A VERY OLD MAN by SARA CARSLEY

First Line: THE THRUSTING GLANCE GROWS DIM
Last Line: NEEDS ONLY EARTH.
Subject(s): AGING; MANKIND; HUMAN RACE;

The thrusting glance grows dim;
Falters the fiery tread;
Once life was wine to him
That now is bread.

Beauty was once the prize
He sought by field and stream;
But now the questing eyes
Are fixed in dream.

At every pool of fate
His eager thirst drank deep;
The heart insatiate
Is quenched with sleep.

All knowledge he desired,
All ecstasy, all mirth;
He, who to heaven aspired,
Needs only earth.



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