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Home  »  The World’s Best Poetry  »  The “Old, Old Song”

Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.

Poems of Home: IV. Youth

The “Old, Old Song”

Charles Kingsley (1819–1875)

WHEN all the world is young, lad,

And all the trees are green;

And every goose a swan, lad,

And every lass a queen;

Then hey for boot and horse, lad,

And round the world away;

Young blood must have its course, lad,

And every dog his day.

When all the world is old, lad,

And all the trees are brown;

And all the sport is stale, lad,

And all the wheels run down:

Creep home, and take your place there,

The spent and maimed among:

God grant you find one face there

You loved when all was young.