Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, REPLY TO ADVICE TO YOUTH, by MARION DOYLE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

REPLY TO ADVICE TO YOUTH, by                    
First Line: And what of old age without memories
Last Line: And time stand still, and the last frail hope go blind.
Alternate Author Name(s): Doyle, Marion Stauffer
Subject(s): Advice; Aging; Youth


And what of old age without memories,
The only wealth life leaves us at the end?
Who would exchange remembered ecstasies,
A bough of comets, for the cold gray blend
Of comfort and immunity's dry laurel?
Better the acrid embers than no fire;
Better the bloodthirsty steel of a quarrel
Severing the thundered veins, than no desire.

Only the coward heart refuses love;
Afraid to suffer, bars its cautious door;
Crouched by its bare hearth fondles the tame dove
Of peace, unheeding -- till love knocks no more.

Then shall silence fall like stone on the mind
And time stand still, and the last frail hope go blind.





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