Love in Youth and Age
Bring back the time when blind desire ran free,With bit and rein too loose to curb his flight;Give back the buried face, once angel-bright,That hides in earth all comely things from me;Bring back those journeys ta'en so toilsomely,So toilsome-slow to one whose hairs are white;Those tears and flames that in one breast unite;If thou wilt once more take thy fill of me!Yet Love! Suppose it true that thou dost thriveOnly on bitter honey-dews of tears.Small profit hast thou of a weak old man.My soul that toward the other shore doth strive,Wards off thy darts with shafts of holier fears;And fire feeds ill on brands no breath can fan.
Bring back the time when glad desire ran freeWith bit and rein too loose to curb his flight,The tears and flames that in one breast unite,If thou art fain once more to conquer me!Bring back those journeys ta'en so toilsomely,So toilsome-slow to him whose hairs are white!Give back the buried face once angel-bright,That taxed all Nature's art and industry.O Love! an old man finds it hard to chaseThy flying pinions! Thou hast left thy nest;Nor is my heart as light as heretofore.Put thy gold arrows to the string once more:Then if Death hear my prayer and grant me grace,My grief I shall forget, again made blest.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love in Youth and Age is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets, Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, the John Addington Symonds translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Michelangelo Buonarroti, Love in Youth and Age, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/love-in-youth-and-age.html, id L15193.
Form and metre
Love in Youth and Age is 28 lines in 2 stanzas of 14 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABBA-BBACDECDE freeA · flightB · brightB · meA · toilsomely · whiteB · uniteB · meA · thriveC · tearsD · manE · striveC · fearsD · fanE
- 2 ABBA-BB-CDEECD freeA · flightB · uniteB · meA · toilsomely · whiteB · brightB · industry · chaseC · nestD · heretoforeE · moreE · graceC · blestD
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Bring back the time when blind desire ran free, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| With bit and rein too loose to curb his flight; | 10 | ·········· |
| Give back the buried face, once angel-bright, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| That hides in earth all comely things from me; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Bring back those journeys ta'en so toilsomely, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| So toilsome-slow to one whose hairs are white; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Those tears and flames that in one breast unite; | 10 | ········/· |
| If thou wilt once more take thy fill of me! | 10 | ·········· |
| Yet Love! Suppose it true that thou dost thrive | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Only on bitter honey-dews of tears. | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Small profit hast thou of a weak old man. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| My soul that toward the other shore doth strive, | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| Wards off thy darts with shafts of holier fears; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And fire feeds ill on brands no breath can fan. | 10 | ·/········ |
| Bring back the time when glad desire ran free | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| With bit and rein too loose to curb his flight, | 10 | ·········· |
| The tears and flames that in one breast unite, | 10 | ········/· |
| If thou art fain once more to conquer me! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Bring back those journeys ta'en so toilsomely, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| So toilsome-slow to him whose hairs are white! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Give back the buried face once angel-bright, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| That taxed all Nature's art and industry. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| O Love! an old man finds it hard to chase | 10 | ·········· |
| Thy flying pinions! Thou hast left thy nest; | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Nor is my heart as light as heretofore. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Put thy gold arrows to the string once more: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Then if Death hear my prayer and grant me grace, | 10 | ·········· |
| My grief I shall forget, again made blest. | 10 | ····˘/˘/·· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.