If I live to be old, for I find I go down, <br /> Let this be my fate: In a country town <br /> May I have a warm house, with a stone at the gate, <br /> And a cleanly young girl to rub my bald pate. <br /> May I govern my passion with an absolute sway, <br /> And grow wiser and better as my strength wears away, <br /> Without gout or stone, by a gentle decay. <br /> <br /> Near a shady grove, and a murmuring brook, <br /> With the ocean at distance, whereupon I may look, <br /> With a spacious plain without hedge or stile, <br /> And an easy pad-nag to ride out a mile. <br /> May I govern my passion with an absolute sway, <br /> And grow wiser and better as my strength wears away, <br /> Without gout or stone, by a gentle decay. <br /> <br /> With Horace and Petrarch, and two or three more <br /> Of the best wits that reign'd in the ages before, <br /> With roast mutton, rather than ven'son or veal, <br /> And clean though coarse linen at every meal. <br /> May I govern my passion with an absolute sway, <br /> And grow wiser and better as my strength wears away, <br /> Without gout or stone, by a gentle decay. <br /> <br /> With a pudding on Sundays, with stout humming liquor, <br /> And remnants of Latin to welcome the vicar, <br /> With Monte-Fiascone or Burgundy wine, <br /> To drink the King's health as oft as I dine. <br /> May I govern my passion with an absolute sway, <br /> And grow wiser and better as my strength wears away, <br /> Without gout or stone, by a gentle decay. <br /> <br /> With a courage undaunted may I face my last day, <br /> And when I am dead may the better sort say, <br /> In the morning when sober, in the evening when mellow, <br /> He's gone, and left not behind him his fellow. <br /> May I govern my passion with an absolute sway, <br /> And grow wiser and better as my strength wears away, <br /> Without gout or stone, by a gentle decay.<br /><br />Anonymous Americas<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-old-man-s-wish/
