Youth And Age Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCC DDEECC FFGGCC HHIICC AAJJC KKLMBB NNOOPP IIQQRR SSTTUU VVWWXX YYZZA2A2 B2B2C2C2OO D2D2LLE2E2 DF2G2G2H2H2 ZZHHI2I2| I will gain a fortune the young man cried | A |
| For Gold by the world is deified | A |
| Hence whether the means be foul or fair | B |
| I will make myself a millionaire | B |
| My single talent shall grow to ten | C |
| But an old man smiled and asked And then | C |
| - | |
| A peerless beauty the young man said | D |
| Shall be the woman I choose to wed | D |
| And men shall envy me my prize | E |
| And women scan her with jealous eyes | E |
| And he looked annoyed when once again | C |
| The old man smiled and asked And then | C |
| - | |
| I will build he answered a home so fine | F |
| That kings in their castles shall covet mine | F |
| The rarest pictures shall clothe its walls | G |
| And statues stand in its stately halls | G |
| It shall lack no luxury known to men | C |
| But still the old man asked And then | C |
| - | |
| I will play a role in Church or State | H |
| That all mankind shall acknowledge great | H |
| I will win at last such brilliant fame | I |
| That distant lands shall know my name | I |
| For I can wield both sword and pen | C |
| But again the old man asked And then | C |
| - | |
| Is your heart a stone the young man cried | A |
| Hath all ambition within you died | A |
| That nothing seems to you worth while | J |
| What mean you by that sphinx like smile | J |
| Of what are you secretly thinking when | C |
| You utter those mournful words 'And then ' | - |
| - | |
| Gently the old man said O youth | K |
| The words I have spoken veil a truth | K |
| Learned only through the lapse of years | L |
| And first discerned through a mist of tears | M |
| For youth is full of illusions fair | B |
| Which manhood sees dissolve in air | B |
| - | |
| Your millions will not make you blest | N |
| They will rob you instead of peace and rest | N |
| Your beautiful wife may be the prey | O |
| Of a treacherous friend or a skilled roue | O |
| And the splendid palace that you crave | P |
| Will make you Society's gilded slave | P |
| - | |
| 'Tis a weary road to political fame | I |
| Its price you must often pay in shame | I |
| And the world known name for which you yearn | Q |
| On a bulletin board or a funeral urn | Q |
| Is scarcely worth the toil and strife | R |
| Which poison the peaceful joys of life | R |
| - | |
| For be you ever so wise and good | S |
| By some you will be misunderstood | S |
| And fame will bring you envious foes | T |
| To spoil for you many a night's repose | T |
| And alas as your pathway upward tends | U |
| You will find self interest in your friends | U |
| - | |
| The loudest shout of the mob's applause | V |
| Will die out after a moment's pause | V |
| And what is the greatest public praise | W |
| To one whose form in the earth decays | W |
| The cruel world will always laugh | X |
| At the fulsome lie of an epitaph | X |
| - | |
| But Spring recks not of Winter's snow | Y |
| And you will not believe I know | Y |
| That all those boons that tempt your powers | Z |
| If gained will be like fragile flowers | Z |
| Whose freshness wilts in the fevered hand | A2 |
| Like roses dropped on the desert sand | A2 |
| - | |
| And much of the work you deem sublime | B2 |
| Is like the grain of pink hued lime | B2 |
| Which once was a coral insect's shell | C2 |
| But now is a microscopic cell | C2 |
| Entombed with countless billions more | O |
| In a lonely reef on an unknown shore | O |
| - | |
| Alas said the youth and his eyes were wet | D2 |
| Is old age merely a vain regret | D2 |
| The retrospect of wasted years | L |
| Of false ideals and lost careers | L |
| Advise me What must I reject | E2 |
| And what for my permanent good select | E2 |
| - | |
| Belovd youth the old man said | D |
| All is not vain be comforted | F2 |
| Seek not thine own but others' joy | G2 |
| Ring true like gold without alloy | G2 |
| Waste not thy time in asking Why | H2 |
| Or Whence or Whither when we die | H2 |
| - | |
| The actual world the present hours | Z |
| Will give enough to tax thy powers | Z |
| At no clear duty hesitate | H |
| Serve well thy neighbor and the State | H |
| So shalt thou add thy tiny form | I2 |
| To bind the reef that breasts the storm | I2 |
John L. Stoddard
(1)
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Youth And Age is a poem by John L. Stoddard. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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