How many a father have I seen, A sober man, among his boys, Whose youth was full of foolish noise, Who wears his manhood hale and green; And dare we to this fancy give, That had the wild oat not been sown, The soil, left barren, scarce had grown The grain by which a man may live? Or, if we held the doctrine sound For life outliving heats of youth, Yet who would preach it as a truth To those that eddy round and round? Hold thou the good, define it well; For fear divine Philosophy Should push beyond her mark, and be Procuress to the Lords of Hell. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON THE DANGER OF WAR by GEORGE MEREDITH A SLUMBER SONG by A. HOLCOMBE AIKEN DEATH AT DAYBREAK by ANNE REEVE ALDRICH THE DOOMED MAN by JOSEPH ADDISON ALEXANDER SONG by CHARLES GRANGER BLANDEN |