SELECT POETRY.

Tuapeka Times, Volume 21, Issue 216, 21 March 1872, Page 7

SELECT POETRY.

I'M GROWING OLD. j«k [JOHN G. SAXK.] A^PLyi pass pleasantly away, "tB" nights are blessed with sweetest sleep, I feu no symptom of decay, I have no cause to mourn or weap • My foes are impotent and shy, My friends are neither false nor cold ; And yet, of late, I often sigh— I'm growjngtold ! My growing talk of olden times, My growing thirst for early news, My growing apathy to rhymes, My growing love of easy shoes, My growing hate of crowds and noise, My growing fear of catching cold, All tell me, in the plainest voice— I'm growing old ! I'm growing fonder of. my staff, - I'm growing dimmer in the eyes, I'm growing fainter in my laugh, I'm growing deeper in my sighs, • I'm growing careless of my dress, I'm growing frugal of my gold, I'm growing wise, I'm growing— yes— I'm growing old ! I feel it in my changing taste, I see it in my changing hair, I see it in my growing waist, , I see it in my growing heir ; A thousand hints pioclaim the truth, As plain as truth was ever told, That even in mv haunted youth I'm growing old ! Ah me ! my very laurels breathe The tale in my reluctant ears '; And every boon the hours bequeath But makes me debtor to the yean ; E'en Flattery's honeyed words declare The secret she would fain withhold. And tell me in " How yonng you are !" Fui growing old ! Thanks for the year whose rapid flight My sombre muse too gladly sings ; Thanks for the gleams of golden light That tint tbe darkness of their wings ; The light that beams from out the sky, Those heavenly mansions to unfold, Where all are blest, and none may sign .- " I'm growing old !"