| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 474. An Old Song Reversed |
| | | By Richard Henry Stoddard |
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| “THERE are gains for all our losses.” | |
| So I said when I was young. | |
| If I sang that song again, | |
| ’T would not be with that refrain, | |
| Which but suits an idle tongue. | 5 |
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| Youth has gone, and hope gone with it, | |
| Gone the strong desire for frame. | |
| Laurels are not for the old. | |
| Take them, lads. Give Senex gold. | |
| What ’s an everlasting name? | 10 |
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| When my life was in its summer | |
| One fair woman liked my looks: | |
| Now that Time has driven his plough | |
| In deep furrows on my brow, | |
| I ’m no more in her good books. | 15 |
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| “There are gains for all our losses?” | |
| Grave beside the wintry sea, | |
| Where my child is, and my heart, | |
| For they would not live apart, | |
| What has been your gain to me? | 20 |
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| No, the words I sang were idle, | |
| And will ever so remain: | |
| Death, and Age, and vanished Youth | |
| All declare this bitter truth, | |
| There ’s a loss for every gain! | 25 |
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