The Aged Lover Renounceth Love



1         I loathe that I did love,
2     In youth that I thought sweet;
3     As time requires for my behove,
4     Me thinks they are not meet.
5         My lusts they do me leave,
6     My fancies all be fled,
7     And tract of time begins to weave
8     Gray hairs upon my head.
9         For age, with stealing steps,
10   Hath clawed me with his crutch,
11   And lusty life away she leaps
12   As there had been none such.
13       My muse doth not delight
14   Me as she did before,
15   My hand and pen are not in plight
16   As they have been of yore.
17       For reason me denies
18   This youthly idle rhyme,
19   And day by day to me she cries,
20   Leave off these toys in time.
21       The wrinkles in my brow,
22   The furrows in my face,
23   Say limping age will hedge him now
24   Where youth must give him place.
25       The harbinger of death,
26   To me I see him ride;
27   The cough, the cold, the gasping breath,
28   Doth bid me to provide
29       A pickaxe and a spade,
30   And eke a shrouding sheet;
31   A house of clay for to be made
32   For such a guest most meet.
33       Me thinks I hear the clerk
34   That knolls the careful knell,
35   And bids me leave my woeful work
36   Ere nature me compel.
37       My keepers knit the knot
38   That youth did laugh to scorn,
39   Of me that clean shall be forgot
40   As I had not been born.
41       Thus must I youth give up,
42   Whose badge I long did wear;
43   To them I yield the wanton cup
44   That better may it bear.
45       Lo, here the bared skull
46   By whose bald sign I know
47   That stooping age away shall pull
48   Which youthful years did sow.
49       For beauty, with her band,
50   These crooked cares hath wrought,
51   And shipped me into the land
52   From whence I first was brought.
53       And ye that bide behind,
54   Have ye none other trust;
55   As ye of clay were cast by kind,
56   So shall ye waste to dust.

Font size:
Collection  PDF     
 

Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:54 min read
51

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCDCDEFGFHIHIJKJKLMLMNONOPBPBQRQRSTSTUVUVWXYLZ1 Z1 2 3 2 3
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,885
Words 381
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 56

Discuss the poem The Aged Lover Renounceth Love with the community...

0 Comments

    Translation

    Find a translation for this poem in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "The Aged Lover Renounceth Love" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/36737/the-aged-lover-renounceth-love>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    More poems by

    Thomas Lord Vaux

    »

    March 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    3
    days
    3
    hours
    21
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    Who wrote the poem "There Will Come Soft Rain"?
    A Sara Teasdale
    B Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
    C Percy Bysshe Shelley
    D Rainer Maria Rilke