| Harriet Monroe, ed. (18601936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 191222. | | | | The Piker | | By Morris Bishop |
| | From With the A. E. F. YOUTH is for madness, youth is for dreams and visions, | |
| Youth is for earnest folly and monstrous play: | |
| So say the sages, so say the wise old warriors, | |
| And so do also the twitch-lipped satyrs say. | |
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| Youth is a thoughtless laugh in a house of mourning, | 5 |
| A burst of sun on a chill rain-sodden day: | |
| So say the gaunt-faced priests and the hooded sophists, | |
| So also the sidelong-beckoning satyrs say. | |
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| Youth is a rose to be plucked and crushed to the nostrils, | |
| For in an hour it is utterly blown away: | 10 |
| So say the minstrels, so say the wistful ancients, | |
| So too the unclean satyrs say. | | | | |
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