Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Richard Le Gallienne 1866–1947

An Old Man’s Song

LeGallieR

YE are young, ye are young,

I am old, I am old;

And the song has been sung

And the story been told.

Your locks are as brown

As the mavis in May,

Your hearts are as warm

As the sunshine to-day,

But mine white and cold

As the snow on the brae.

And Love, like a flower,

Is growing for you,

Hands clasping, lips meeting,

Hearts beating so true;

While Fame like a star

In the midnight afar

Is flashing for you.

For you the To-come,

But for me the Gone-by,

You are panting to live,

I am waiting to die;

The meadow is empty,

No flower groweth high,

And naught but a socket

The face of the sky.

Yea, howso we dream,

Or how bravely we do;

The end is the same,

Be we traitor or true:

And after the bloom

And the passion is past,

Death cometh at last.