It seems like pastime to grow old;
And, as youth counts the shining links
That Time around him binds so fast,
Pleased with the task, he little thinks
How hard that chain will press, at last.
2. Vain was the man, and false as vain,
Who said: “Were he ordained[265] to run
His long career[266] of life again,
He would do all that he had done.”
Ah! ’tis not thus the voice that dwells