Pity the sorrows of a poor old man, Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door, Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span; Oh give relief, and Heaven will bless your store.
Life! we ve been long together Through pleasant and through cloudy weather; T is hard to part when friends are dear, Perhaps t will cost a sigh, a tear; Then steal away, give little warning, Choose thine own time; Say not Good night, but in some brighter clime Bid me Good morning.
Life.
Note 1. This line stood originally, A liveried servant, etc., and was altered as above by Goldsmith.Forster: Life of Goldsmith, vol. i. p. 215 (fifth edition, 1871). [back]
Note 2. Who against hope believed in hope.Romans iv. 18.
Hope against hope, and ask till ye receive.James Montgomery: The World before the Flood. [back]