Margaret Widdemer. Youth-song. Harriet Monroe, ed. Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912-22

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22.

Youth-song

By Margaret Widdemer


I WISH I were old now,
And maybe content:
I’d look back the long way
My footsteps were bent,
And say, “’Tis all done now—	5
What odds how it went?”

For all would look smooth then
And most would look gay;
And “Oh, I was sure then
And strong then,” I’d say,	10
And show the wild young things
My wise-travelled way.

I’d have naught to strive for
And no thoughts to form,
But how to rest easy	15
And how to sleep warm,
And “Pity the poor souls
Abroad in the storm!”

I wish I were old now
With living put by,	20
And peace on the hearthstone
And peace in the sky.
But “Oh, to be young now,
But young now!” they cry!