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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
WHEN ONE IS OLD, by RAY CLARKE ROSE
First Line: When one is old one may forget
Last Line: When one is old.
Subject(s): Old Age; Regret
First Line: When one is old one may forget
Last Line: When one is old.
Subject(s): Old Age; Regret
When one is old one may forget
The ills that sear the heart and fret
The soul; old age may reconcile
Griefs that exalt, joys that defile,
And loves that leave the eyelids wet.
Along life's backward track are set
Gray crossway signals marked "Regret,"
At which dim eyes may gaze and smile,
When one is old!
How base will seem the quest we let
Consume the years! The minaret
Of fame's white temple, afterwhile,
Will crown a lonely burial pile;
And thus success and dust are met
When one is old.
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