Age's Rejoinder Poem by Samuel Alfred Beadle

I would not live always:
I ask but to stay'
In this vain world of shadows
Just another day;
By that other day I mean
Three score years and ten,
Then, perhaps, I'll take my leave
Willingly, of men.


Yet, if it suits my Lord
To lengthen the thread
That tethers me to earth's shores,
A few more years instead,
Contentedly I'll plod on -
With my crutch and cane
Bear the weight of four score years,
And not complain.


Live always? Of course not!
But I'd like to see
My span of years reeling down
To the century.
'What about my absent friends,
And rheumatic foe?'
I'll forget those, this endure,
A year and a day more.