William Cowper. Upon a Venerable Rival. Fuess and Stearns, comps. 1922. The Little Book of Society Verse

Fuess and Stearns, comps. The Little Book of Society Verse. 1922.

Upon a Venerable Rival

By William Cowper


FULL thirty frosts since thou wert young
Have chill’d the wither’d grove,
Thou wretch! and hast thou lived so long
Nor yet forgot to love!

Ye Sages! spite of your pretences	5
To wisdom, you must own
Your folly frequently commences
When you acknowledge none.

Not that I deem it weak to love,
Or folly to admire;	10
But, ah! the pangs we lovers prove
Far other years require.

Unheeded on the youthful brow
The beams of Phœbus play;
But unsupported Age stoops low	15
Beneath the sultry ray.

For once, then, if untutor’d youth,
Youth unapproved by years,
May chance to deviate into truth,
When your experience errs;	20

For once attempt not to despise
What I esteem a rule:
Who early loves, though young, is wise,—
Who old, though gray, a fool.