Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AT FORTY by JAMES OPPENHEIM

First Line: IT WAS YOU, THE GLOWING YOUTH THAT WENT FORTH
Last Line: PIERCE BACK TO HIM.
Subject(s): MIDDLE AGE;
IT WAS you, the glowing youth that went forth
Conquering the world with laughter,
And radiantly running after visions.

Now forty years lie on you like a frost:
Disillusionment is in the very handshake you proffer me:
And a crust of habits and troubles has overlaid you.

You call death your friend, and think he is long in coming:
You have lost faith in life and in your own true self:
And the failure of your work enfeebles your ambition and effort.

See deeper:
The real you is that glowing youth:
Pierce back to him.



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