An Old Man’s Song
Ye are young, ye are young,
I am old, I am old;
And the song has been sung
And the story been told.
Your locks are as brown
As the mavis in May,
Your hearts are as warm
As the sunshine today,
But mine old and cold
As the snow on the brae.
All Love, like a flower,
Is growing for you,
Hands clasping, lips meeting,
Hearts beating so true;
While Fame like a star
In the midnight afar
Is flashing for you.
For you the To-Come,
But for me the Gone-by,
You are panting to live,
I am waiting to die;
The meadow is empty,
No flower groweth high,
And naught but a socket
The face of the sky.
Yea, howso we dream,
Or how bravely we do;
The end is the same,
Be we traitor or true:
And after the bloom
And the passion is past,
Death cometh at last.
