quote · Legacy record
And next in order sad, Old age we found, His beard all hoar, his eyes hollow and blind; With drooping cheer still pouring on the ground, As on the place where nature him assign’d To rest, when that the sisters had untwined His vital thread, and ended with their knife The fleeting course of fast-declining life: There heard we him with broke and hollow plaint, Rue with himself his end approaching fast, And all for nought his wretched mind torment With sweet remembrance of his pleasures past, And fresh delights of lusty youth forewaste; Recounting which, how would he sob and shriek, And to be young again of Jove beseek! Crook-backed he was, tooth-shaken, and blear-eyed, Went on three feet and sometime crept on four, With old lame bones that rattled by his side: His scalp all piled, and he with eld forelore, His wither’d fist still knocking at death’s door; Fumbling and drivelling as he draws his breath; For brief, the shape and messenger of death.
And next in order sad, Old age we found, His beard all hoar, his eyes hollow and blind; With drooping cheer still pouring on the ground, As on the place where nature him assign’d To rest, when that the sisters had untwined His vital thread, and ended with their knife The fleeting course of fast-declining life: There heard we him with broke and hollow plaint, Rue with himself his end approaching fast, And all for nought his wretched mind torment With sweet remembrance of his pleasures past, And fresh delights of lusty youth forewaste; Recounting which, how would he sob and shriek, And to be young again of Jove beseek! Crook-backed he was, tooth-shaken, and blear-eyed, Went on three feet and sometime crept on four, With old lame bones that rattled by his side: His scalp all piled, and he with eld forelore, His wither’d fist still knocking at death’s door; Fumbling and drivelling as he draws his breath; For brief, the shape and messenger of death.
In print by 1888 AD · industrial
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Meaning not yet available
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Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Sackville (identity unresolved)
Attribution: unknown - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- In print by 1888 AD · industrial
In print by 1888: recorded in A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 21 · printed citation: Sackville · subject: AGE
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.