When love looks out of this old man’s eyes
And marks sweet youth in the moving crowd,
I catch my breath
At you with oceans to sail.
I think what tomes you’ll learn.
What hands you’ll hold,
Love’s embrace you’ll know,
Children to make you proud.
I conjure your worship,
The adventures, the doubts…
All of life’s prizes, great and small—
Down to its bitter draughts…
And I pray you will find
The gift
In what you live.
I know I have…
As love looks out of this old man’s eye.
STEPHEN M. CROTTS. MARCH, 2010
