Welcome, old friend! These many years <br />Have we lived door by door; <br />The fates have laid aside their shears <br />Perhaps for some few more. <br /> <br />I was indocile at an age <br />When better boys were taught, <br />But thou at length hast made me sage, <br />If I am sage in aught. <br /> <br />Little I know from other men, <br />Too little they know from me, <br />But thou hast pointed well the pen <br />That writes these lines to thee. <br /> <br />Thanks for expelling Fear and Hope, <br />One vile, the other vain; <br />One's scourge, the other's telescope, <br />I shall not see again. <br /> <br />Rather what lies before my feet <br />My notice shall engage-- <br />He who hath braved Youth's dizzy heat <br />Dreads not the frost of Age.<br /><br />Walter Savage Landor<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-age/
