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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A few random poems:

External links

Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus

Talking Writing Monster’s Page –

Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Poems in English 

• At the Party by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Old People’s Home by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• O What Is That Sound by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• O Tell Me The Truth About Love by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Nocturne by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• A New Age by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Like A Vocation by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Let A Florid Music Praise by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Law, Like Love by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• At Last the Secret is Out by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Lady Weeping at the Crossroads by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• It’s No Use Raising A Shout by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• In the Time of War, XII by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• In Praise Of Limestone by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Here War Is Simple by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Give me a doctor by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• from The Cave of Making by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• from In Time of War by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Friday’s Child by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Friday’s Child by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)

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Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)

Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.

Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees

Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.

Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

 

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