TO grow older is this:
To feel on the first rose
The breath malign and fell
Of the first icicle,
And in the earliest kiss
The handshake of farewell.
To turn at length heart-craven:
Deliberately to close
Your senses to the spring
Because her wiles must bring
December round again;
To shun love’s foothills even,
Fearing to reach the crest
Of joy, and see beyond
No choice but to descend
Those slopes of less-than-best
Which are most kin to pain.
And in the end to find
Sole refuge in the mind-
That princely solitude
Where the meek seasons spin
Swift, slow, to suit your will,
Or whirl a-widdershin
From rose to daffodil;
Where love no sequence keeps,
But at your bidding leaps
-Bold, gentle, sweet, or hot-
From mood to mood,
Yet wanes not, withers not.
(Jan Struther)
More Poetry from Jan Struther:
Jan Struther Poems based on Topics: Mind, Joy & Excitement, Spring, Pain- The Cul-De-Sac (Jan Struther Poems)
- Stallions In The Strand (Jan Struther Poems)
- London Lovers (Jan Struther Poems)
- Intimations Of Immortality In An Early Age (Jan Struther Poems)
- The Last Adventure (Jan Struther Poems)
- Betsinda Dances (Jan Struther Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Mind Poems, Joy & Excitement Poems, Pain Poems, Spring PoemsBased on Keywords: handshake, deliberately
- Of The Nature Of Things: Book II - Part 03 - Atomic Forms And Their Combinations (Lucretius Poems)
- The Celt's Paradise. Third Duan (John Banim Poems)
- Rhodon And Iris. Act III (Ralph Knevet Poems)
- The School Of The Heart. Lesson The Second. (Henry Alford Poems)
- An Anatomy Of The World... (John Donne Poems)