Youth and age by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

rlee

Verse, a breeze mid blossoms straying,
Where Hope clung feeding, like a bee—
Both were mine! Life went a-maying
With Nature, Hope, and Poesy,
When I was young!
When I was young?—Ah, woful When!
Ah! for the change ‘twixt Now and Then!
This breathing house not built with hands,
This body that does me grievous wrong,
O’er aery cliffs and glittering sands,
How lightly then it flashed along:—
Like those trim skiffs, unknown of yore,
On winding lakes and rivers wide,
That ask no aid of sail or oar,
That fear no spite of wind or tide!
Nought cared this body for wind or weather
When Youth and I lived in ‘t together.
Flowers are lovely; Love is flower-like;
Friendship is a sheltering tree;
O! the joys, that came down shower-like,
Of Friendship, Love, and Liberty,
Ere I was old!
Ere I was old? Ah woful Ere,
Which tells me Youth ‘s no longer here!
O Youth! for years so many and sweet,
’Tis known, that thou and I were one,
I’ll think it but a fond conceit—
It cannot be that thou art gone!
Thy vesper-bell hath not yet tolled:—
And thou wert aye a masker bold!
What strange disguise hast now put on,
To make believe, that thou art gone?
I see these locks in silvery slips,
This drooping gait, this altered size:
But Spring-tide blossoms on thy lips,
And tears take sunshine from thine eyes!
Life is but thought: so think I will
That Youth and I are house-mates still.
Dew-drops are the gems of morning,
But the tears of mournful eve!
Where no hope is, life ‘s a warning
That only serves to make us grieve,
When we are old:
That only serves to make us grieve
With oft and tedious taking-leave,
Like some poor nigh-related guest,
That may not rudely be dismist;
Yet hath outstayed his welcome while,
And tells the jest without the smile.

rlee

Crabbed age and youth cannot live together
Youth is full of pleasance, age is full of care;
Youth like summer morn, age like winter weather;
Youth like summer brave, age like winter bare;
Youth is full of sport, age’s breath is short;
?Youth is nimble, age is lame;
Youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold;
?Youth is wild, and age is tame.
Age, I do abhor thee; youth, I do adore thee;
?O, my love, my love is young!
Age, I do defy thee: O, sweet shepherd, hie thee,
?For methinks thou stay’st too long.
Shakespeare
老年人如夕照，少年人如朝阳；
老年人如瘠牛，少年人如乳虎；
老年人如僧，少年人如侠；
老年人如字典，少年人如戏文；
老年人如鸦片烟，少年人如泼兰地酒；
老年人如别行星之陨石，少年人如大洋海之珊瑚岛
梁公