I HOLD that the true age of wisdom is when We are boys and girls, and not women and men, -- When as credulous children we @3know@1 things because We @3believe@1 them -- however averse to the laws. It is @3faith,@1 then, not science and reason, I say, That is genuine wisdom. -- And would that to-day We, as then, were as wise and ineffably blest As to live, love and die, and trust God for the rest! So I simply deny the old notion, you know, That the wiser we get as the older we grow! -- For @3in youth@1 all we know we are @3certain@1 of. -- @3Now@1 The greater our knowledge, the more we allow For skeptical margin. -- And hence I regret That the world isn't flat, and the sun doesn't set, And we may not go creeping up home, when we die, Through the moon, like a round yellow hole in the sky. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SING-SONG; A NURSERY RHYME BOOK: 48 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI A SONG TO DAVID by CHRISTOPHER SMART ADDRESS TO A CHILD DURING A BOISTEROUS WINTER EVENING by DOROTHY WORDSWORTH LATIMER AND RIDLEY, BURNED AT THE STAKE IN OXFORD, 1555 by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN ON RETURN FROM THE SHORE by HELEN IFFLA BAY TO LADY B- W-, PRESENTING THE AUTHOR WITH A MOIETY OF A LOTTERY TICKET by JOHN BYROM |