NOT "a youth with hoary head and haggard eye," But an old man with a smooth skin And black hair! I had the face of a boy as long as I lived, And for years a soul that was stiff and bent, In a world which saw me just as a jest, To be hailed familiarly when it chose, And loaded up as a man when it chose, Being neither man nor boy. In truth it was soul as well as body Which never matured, and I say to you That the much-sought prize of eternal youth Is just arrested growth. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IF IT WERE NOT FOR YOU by HAYDEN CARRUTH ARMOR by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON ATELIER CEZANNE by CLARENCE MAJOR JOE HILL LISTENS TO THE PRAYING by KENNETH PATCHEN THE STORY OF THE ASHES AND THE FLAME by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON |