Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems by the late Thomas Haynes Bayly; Edited by his Widow. With A Memoir of the Author. In Two Volumes |
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THE MAN THAT HAS BEEN YOUNGER. |
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 | Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems |  |
227
THE MAN THAT HAS BEEN YOUNGER.
I
'Tis he! 'tis he! how well he wears,No change since last we met him,
I think Old Time, with all his cares,
Has managed to forget him;
His age, but no! be that forgot,
For dates we do not hunger,
He merely is (and who is not),
The man that has been younger.
II
His hair has ne'er betrayed a fall,It still is dark and curly.
Be wise, if you wear wigs at all,
Like him adopt one early.
He still retains the jaunty air,
His limbs look even stronger,
And yet he is, we're all aware,
The man that has been younger.
III
When first I met him in the park,With joy unfeign'd and real,
I paused five minutes to remark
The toilet's beau ideal.
That's five and thirty years ago;
Indeed it may be longer!
And he's unchang'd, though well we know
A man that has been younger.
228
IV
And still the glass is raised to scanThe fairest nymph that passes,
And still the figure of the man
Attracts all other glasses.
For female admiration, still,
His spirit seems to hunger,
And yet he is, do what he will,
The man that has been younger.
| Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems | |