Middle Age

The sins of Youth are hardly sins,

So frank they are and free.

‘T is but when Middle-age begins

We need morality.

Ah, pause and weigh this bitter truth:

That Middle-age, grown cold,

No comprehension has of Youth,

No pity for the Old.

Youth, with his half-divine mistakes,

She never can forgive,

So much she hates his charm which makes

Worth while the life we live.

She scorns Old Age, whose tolerance

And calm, well-balanced mind

(Knowing how crime is born of chance)

Can pardon all mankind.

Yet she, alas! has all the power

Of strength and place and gold,

Man’s every act, through every hour,

Is by her laws controlled.

All things she grasps with sordid hands

And weighs in tarnished scales.

She neither feels, nor understands,

And yet her will prevails!

Cold-blooded vice and careful sin,

Gold-lust, blind selfishness,–

The shortest, cheapest way to win

Some, worse than cheap, success.

Such are her attributes and aims,

Yet meekly we obey,

While she to guide and order claims

All issues of the day.

You seek for honour, friendship, truth?

Let Middle-age be banned!

Go, for warm-hearted acts, to Youth;

To Age,–to understand!

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Poems in English 

• The Hosts by Alan Seeger
• The Deserted Garden by Alan Seeger
• The Bayadere by Alan Seeger
• The Aisne by Alan Seeger
• Tezcotzinco by Alan Seeger
• Sonnet Xvi Who Shall Invoke Her by Alan Seeger
• Sonnet Xv by Alan Seeger
• Sonnet Xiv by Alan Seeger
• Sonnet Xiii by Alan Seeger
• Sonnet Xii by Alan Seeger
• Sonnet Xi by Alan Seeger
• Sonnet X by Alan Seeger
• Sonnet Viii by Alan Seeger
• Sonnet Vii by Alan Seeger
• Sonnet Vi by Alan Seeger
• Sonnet V by Alan Seeger
• Sonnet Ix by Alan Seeger
• Sonnet Iv by Alan Seeger
• Sonnet Iii by Alan Seeger
• Sonnet Ii by Alan Seeger

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