GROWING OLDER

What is it to grow older?

Is it to lose the glory of the form 

The lustre of the eye 

is it for beauty to forego her wreath?

Yes , but not for this alone 

Is it to feel our strength 

Not our bloom only ,but our strength -decay?

Is it to feel each limb

Grow stiffer ,every function less exact 

Each nerve more weekly strung? 

Yes, this and more but not 

Ah! tis not what in youth we dreamed 'twould be! 

Tis not to have our life

Mellowed and softened as with sunset glow