| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | Experience | | By John Boyle O’Reilly (1844–1890) |
| | | THE WORLD was made when a man was born, | |
| He must taste for himself the forbidden springs; | |
| He can never take warning from old-fashion’d things; | |
| He must fight as a boy, he must drink as a youth, | |
| He must kiss, he must love, he must swear to the truth | 5 |
| Of the friend of his soul; he must laugh to scorn | |
| The hints of deceit in a woman’s eyes— | |
| They are clear as the wells of Paradise. | |
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| And so he goes on till the world grows old, | |
| Till his tongue has grown cautious, his heart has grown cold, | 10 |
| Till the smile leaves his mouth, till the ring leaves his laugh, | |
| And he shirks the bright headache you ask him to quaff. | |
| He grows formal with men, and with women polite, | |
| And distrustful of both when they’re out of his sight. | |
| Then he eats for his palate and drinks for his head, | 15 |
| And loves for his pleasure,—and ’tis time he was dead. | | | | |
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