Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CASTLE OF TWENTY YEARS HENCE by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS

First Line: I'M A COMMON YOUNG FELLOW, I DON'T OWN A MINE
Last Line: YOUR CASTLE OF TWENTY YEARS HENCE.
Subject(s): HOPE; OPTIMISM;
I'm a common young fellow, I don't own a mine,
And I needs must look after the pence,
Yet, my lad, I am lord of a castle divine,
The castle of Twenty Years Hence.

I have worries and flurries and trial and doubt,
I have trouble of body and brain,
Just like all the creatures that travel about
These highways of joy and of pain.

But a leap of the mind, lad, and lo! I'm secure
From those sorrows of soul and of sense,
For I've entered a fortress where solace is sure,
The castle of Twenty Years Hence.

What matters it, pray, though some scoffers may say
That there is no such castle at all?
Or in life or in death they must enter, some day,
Its open and opulent hall!

And what matters it, pray, that my body must stay
Firmly bound by the stern present tense,
Since my spirit is free, and has fled far away
To the castle of Twenty Years Hence?

Oh, the walls of that castle are built of delight,
And its floors have a carpet of peace.
As I pass the wide portal my sorrows take flight,
And all my sad worriments cease.

The fumes of to-day, and the frets of to-day,
They are nothing, when looked at from thence;
Yes, a mount to a molehill may dwindle away
When gazed at from Twenty Years Hence.

For its windows, my lad, have a marvellous skill,
As I view all the path I have trod;
They can soften its hardness, and blot out its ill,
And show me the goodness of God.

When the world is awry, lad, and fortune unkind,
And the storm-clouds are angry and dense,
Take a leap in your mind and I think you will find
Your castle of Twenty Years Hence.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net