Poems (Hooper)/Too Old

by Lucy Hamilton Hooper

For works with similar titles, see Too Old.

TOO OLD.

O sich mich nicht so lächelnd an.

O human rosebud, maiden fair,
 Look not so smilingly on me!
Thy glance, that well might bless a world,
 But thrills my soul with agony.
  My heart to deeper sadness
   Thy friendliness doth move;
  Forever past, forever
   The days of love.

Were I but young and glad as thou,
 Were I from woe and sin as free,
How would my heart now beat for thine,
 How blest together we might be!
  Unto what magic power
   Did I that sweet dream owe?
  Alas! what doth with blossoms
   The withered bough?

My life has reached its sunset hour;
 Thine enters on its sunny day;
My heart is cold, my heart is dead,
 Thine throbs as ever light and gay.
  Thy happiness thou seest
   Far 'mid the Future's glow;
  My sad gaze seeks returning
   The long ago.

Then, human rosebud, maiden fair,
 Look not with friendliness on me!
Thy glance, that well might bless a world,
 But thrills my soul with agony.
  No, let me forth to wander
   Far o'er land and wave;
  Thou'lt find another lover,
   And I—a grave.
Geibel.