Infirmities



Because my teeth are feebly few
I cannot bolt my grub like you,
But have to chew and chew and chew
         As you can see;
Yet every mouthful seems so good
I would not haste it if I could,
And so I salivate my food
         With ecstasy.
Because my purse is poor in pence
I spend my dough with common-sense,
And live without the least pretence
         In simple state;
The things I can't afford to buy
Might speed the day I have to die,
So pleased with poverty am I
         And bless my fate.

Because my heart is growing tired,
No more by foolish passion fired,
Nor by ambitious hope inspired,
         As in my youth,
I am content to sit and rest,
And prove the last of life's the best,
And ponder with a cheerful zest
         Some saintly truth.

Because I cannot do the things
I used to, comfort round me clings,
And from the moil of market brings
         Me rich release;
So welcome age with tranquil mind;
Even infirmities are kind,
And in our frailing we may find
         Life's crown of peace.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

56 sec read
101

Quick analysis:

Scheme AAABCCXBDDBEFFFE GGGHIIIH JJJKLLLK
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 982
Words 185
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 16, 8, 8

Robert William Service

Robert William Service was a poet and writer sometimes referred to as the Bard of the Yukon He is best-known for his writings on the Canadian North including the poems The Shooting of Dan McGrew The Law of the Yukon and The Cremation of Sam McGee His writing was so expressive that his readers took him for a hard-bitten old Klondike prospector not the later-arriving bank clerk he actually was Robert William Service was born 16 January 1874 in Preston England but also lived in Scotland before emigrating to Canada in 1894 Service went to the Yukon Territory in 1904 as a bank clerk and became famous for his poems about this region which are mostly in his first two books of poetry He wrote quite a bit of prose as well and worked as a reporter for some time but those writings are not nearly as well known as his poems He travelled around the world quite a bit and narrowly escaped from France at the beginning of the Second World War during which time he lived in Hollywood California He died 11 September 1958 in France Incidentally he played himself in a movie called The Spoilers starring John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich more…

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