| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | Only Not to Be Too Early Old | | By Lee Wilson Dodd |
| | | ONLY not to be too early old; | |
| Only not to feel too soon the day | |
| Emptied of all desire, unyielding gray; | |
| Only not to sink too weary and cold | |
| For fireside mirth, for friendly talk, for free | 5 |
| Soul-kindling thought “about it and about”; | |
| Nay, I would rather end life in a rout, | |
| Stricken low by folly, dropping with a laugh, | |
| Than creep thus tamely out | |
| Trailing the tatters of my mystery | 10 |
| To the dull cadence of an epitaph. | | | | |
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