The Old Men

<title>The Old Men</title>
<h1>The Old Men</h1>
<pre>
  _This is our lot if we live so long and labour unto the end--
  That we outlive the impatient years and the much too patient friend:
  And because we know we have breath in our mouth and think we have
     thought in our head,
  We shall assume that we are alive, whereas we are really dead._

  We shall not acknowledge that old stars fade or alien planets arise
  (That the sere bush buds or the desert blooms or the ancient
     well-head dries),
  Or any new compass wherewith new men adventure ’neath new skies.

  We shall lift up the ropes that constrained our youth to bind on our
     children’s hands;
  We shall call to the water below the bridges to return and replenish
     our lands;
  We shall harness horses (Death’s own pale horses) and scholarly
     plough the sands.

  We shall lie down in the eye of the sun for lack of a light on our
     way--
  We shall rise up when the day is done and chirrup, ‘Behold, it is
     day!’
  We shall abide till the battle is won ere we amble into the fray.

  We shall peck out and discuss and dissect, and evert and extrude to
     our mind,
  The flaccid tissues of long-dead issues offensive to God and mankind--
  (Precisely like vultures over an ox that the Army has left behind).

  We shall make walk preposterous ghosts of the glories we once created--
  (Immodestly smearing from muddled palettes amazing pigments mismated)
  And our friends will weep when we ask them with boasts if our natural
     force be abated.

  The Lamp of our Youth will be utterly out: but we shall subsist on
     the smell of it,
  And whatever we do, we shall fold our hands and suck our gums and
     think well of it.
  Yes, we shall be perfectly pleased with our work, And that is the
     perfectest Hell of it!

  _This is our lot if we live so long and listen to those who love us--
  That we are shunned by the people about and shamed by the Powers
     above us.
  Wherefore be free of your harness betimes; but being free be assured,
  That he who hath not endured to the death, from his birth he hath
     never endured!_
</pre>