OLD AGE.
Reading edition
BY REV. C. C. COLTON, AUTHOR OF 'LACON.'
Thou anti-climax in life's wrinkled page, Worst end of bad beginning—helpless Age! Thou sow'st the thorn, though long the flower hath fled; Alive to torment, but to transport dead; Imposing still, through time's still rough'ning road, With strength diminish'd, an augmented load: Slow herald of the tomb! sent but to make Man curse that giftless gift thou wilt not take; When hope and patience both give up the strife, Death is thy cure—for thy disease is life!