YOUTH AND AGE, a poem

FOND Youth and Age met face to face,
     And each the other doubted sore.
Age mourned: "Your follies grow apace
     More dangerous than of yore.

"Old standards trampled in the dust,
     Where you are wending who can tell?"
Youth, wondering, smiled, at his distrust,
     And answered: "Nay; all's well!—

"Your day gone by, why fear that I
     Shall lack the strength for mine own hour?
Each new demand of destiny
     Brings with it a new power.

"For you the past: for me the Now—
     The wonder-working Now divine!
A weight too heavy for your brow
     The Fates transfer to mine."

Age, out of heart, impatient, sighed:—
     "I ask what will the Future be?"
Youth laughed contentedly, and cried:—
     "The future leave to me!"

"Youth and Age" by Florence Earle Coates. Published in Poems (1916) Volume II.