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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
WHEN I AM OLD, by MIRIAM DEL BANCO First Line: When I am old and bent with years Last Line: A praise to god that I am old. Subject(s): Aging; Weariness; Wrinkles; Fatigue | |||
When I am old and bent with years, And marked by life's great joys and fears, When these soft tressesebon now, Shall lie like snow upon my brow, Will I have heard life's story told In smiles or tears, when I am old? Shall I then look indifferently On all that Time yet hides from me? Or will to-morrow and to-day Still roll like mystic screens away, Revealing shade and sunshine's gold, And joys and fears, when I am old? Will every flower that gems the sod Still seem to smile its praise to God? Will starry nights and woodland streams Glide o'er life's page like elfin dreams? Or will I care no more to hold These treasures dear, when I am old? How will the praise and blame of men Fall on my heart and conscience then? Will I have learned to bear the sneers, That fill my eyes with angry tears? Will words of love such joy unfold, Such music wake, when I am old? Who, at that far-off time, will be The friends I'll love, and who to me Will make life sweet? Will I still trace Some beauty in each wrinkled face? Ah, will my hands the same hands fold In friendship's clasp, when I am old? When I am old? It seems to me That such a time can never be: That my strong eyes shall fail in sight. My quick ear hear no sound aright; So far away'tis almost bold For me to say "when I am old." Yet should God bless my life with age, May I have written on life's page A noble thought, a word to bless! May I then view with happiness The past, and may my songs unfold A praise to God that I am old. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...VALUE IN MOUNTAINS: 10 by KENNETH REXROTH IMPERIAL NOSTALGIAS: 4 by CESAR VALLEJO BLACK SHEEP by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON TIRED TIM by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE WEARINESS by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW NEURASTENIA by AGNES MARY F. ROBINSON MICHAEL ANGELO by AUGUSTE BARBIER A DREAM OF LIFE by MIRIAM DEL BANCO A FLOW'RET IN THE GARLAND; FOR OUT GREAT CENTENARIAN by MIRIAM DEL BANCO |
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