Oh give me back the days when loose and free <br />To my blind passion were the curb and rein, <br />Oh give me back the angelic face again, <br />With which all virtue buried seems to be! <br />Oh give my panting footsteps back to me, <br />That are in age so slow and fraught with pain, <br />And fire and moisture in the heart and brain, <br />If thou wouldst have me burn and weep for thee! <br />If it be true thou livest alone, Amor, <br />On the sweet-bitter tears of human hearts, <br />In an old man thou canst not wake desire; <br />Souls that have almost reached the other shore <br />Of a diviner love should feel the darts, <br />And be as tinder to a holier fire.<br /><br />Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/youth-and-age-sonnet-iii/
