"Sow your wild oats in your youth," so we're always told; But I say with deeper sooth: "Sow them when you're old." I'll be wise till I'm about seventy or so: Then, by Gad! I'll blossom out as an ancient @3beau@1. I'll assume a dashing air, laugh with loud Ha! ha! . . . How my grandchildren will stare at their grandpapa! Their perfection aureoled I will scandalize: Won't I be a hoary old sinner in their eyes! Watch me, how I'll learn to chaff barmaids in a bar; Scotches daily, gayly quaff, puff a fierce cigar. I will haunt the Tango teas, at the stage-door stand; Wait for Dolly Dimpleknees, bouquet in my hand. Then at seventy I'll take flutters at roulette; While at eighty hope I'll make good at poker yet; And in fashionable togs to the races go, Gayest of the gay old dogs, ninety years or so. "Sow your wild oats while you're young," that's what you are told; Don't believe the foolish tongue -- sow 'em when you're old. Till you're threescore years and ten, take my humble tip, Sow your nice tame oats and then . . . Hi, boys! Let 'er rip. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: EPILOGUE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS IN THE SUBWAY by LOUIS UNTERMEYER DIRGE FOR A SOLDIER [SEPTEMBER 1, 1862] by GEORGE HENRY BOKER LINCOLN by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES; THE 10TH SATIRE OF JUVENAL, IMITATED by SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709-1784) WITHOUT AND WITHIN by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: AMANDA BARKER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SONG AT THE FEAST OF BROUGHAM CASTLE; UPON RSTORATION OF LORD CLIFFORD by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH WEIGHTS AND MEASURES, BY OUR OWN TOM DALY by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS |