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From “Tales of the Hall”
SIX years had passed, and forty ere the six, | |
| When Time began to play his usual tricks: | |
| The locks once comely in a virgin’s sight, | |
| Locks of pure brown, displayed the encroaching white; | |
| The blood, once fervid, now to cool began, | 5 |
| And Time’s strong pressure to subdue the man. | |
| I rode or walked as I was wont before, | |
| But now the bounding spirit was no more; | |
| A moderate pace would now my body heat, | |
| A walk of moderate length distress my feet. | 10 |
| I showed my stranger guest those hills sublime, | |
| But said, “The view is poor, we need not climb.” | |
| At a friend’s mansion I began to dread | |
| The cold neat parlor and the gay glazed bed; | |
| At home I felt a more decided taste, | 15 |
| And must have all things in my order placed. | |
| I ceased to hunt; my horses pleased me less,— | |
| My dinner more; I learned to play at chess. | |
| I took my dog and gun, but saw the brute | |
| Was disappointed that I did not shoot. | 20 |
| My morning walks I now could bear to lose, | |
| And blessed the shower that gave me not to choose. | |
| In fact, I felt a languor stealing on; | |
| The active arm, the agile hand, were gone; | |
| Small daily actions into habits grew, | 25 |
| And new dislike to forms and fashions new. | |
| I loved my trees in order to dispose; | |
| I numbered peaches, looked how stocks arose; | |
| Told the same story oft,—in short, began to prose. | |
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