WHEN you’ve managed with the tailor for a rig-out of a sort <br />And you find the coat or trousers are an inch or so too short, <br />Do not fret and swear and worry, make the tailor see you through— <br />I have been through many new suits, I’m an older man than you. <br /> <br />When your girl is interfering with your appetite and work, <br />With your sleep and time and reason till the jealous demons lurk; <br />When your girl is playing with you, leave her for a week or two: <br />If in vain, then quit for ever!—I’m an older man than you. <br /> <br />When your wife deceives or leaves you for a “blackguard”, “brute”, and “sot”, <br />And when not a soul believes you when you say that you were not; <br />Do not rave or brood and weaken, and the years will prove you true, <br />Let your own self be the beacon!—I’m an older man than you. <br /> <br />Do not take a silly mistress in your vanity accursed, <br />And a second wife (or husband) but reminds you of the first; <br />Banish mutual friends, and pity (kill or cure relations, too), <br />Shun false “reconciliation”—I’m an older man than you. <br /> <br />Be the cause however worthy, and your case however strong, <br />Be your wrong however cruel, drink will put you in the wrong. <br />Drink will neutralize and murder all the good that time can do <br />(Though our birthdays come together, I’m an older man than you). <br /> <br />But for ever and for ever, over seas and through the lands, <br />Go the hand laid on the shoulder and the silent grip of hands <br />With a world of human feeling—men who know and men who knew: <br />Clear your soul of pessimism—I’m an older man than you.<br /><br />Henry Lawson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-m-an-older-man-than-you/
