The Grudge of the Old

The Grudge of the Old

Original Text
D. H. Lawrence, Pansies: Poems (London: Martin Secker, 1929): 93. PR 6023 A93P3 1929 Robarts Library
1The old ones want to be young, and they aren't young,
2and it rankles, they ache when they see the young,
3and they can't help wanting to spite it on them
4venomously.
5The old ones say to themselves: We are not going to be old,
6we are not going to make way, we are not going to die,
7we are going to stay on and on and on and on and on
8and make the young look after us
9till they are old. We are stronger than the young.
10We have more energy, and our grip on life is harder.
11Let us triumph, and let the young be listless
12with their puny youth.
13We are younger even now than the young, we can put their youth in abeyance.
14And it is true.
15And they do it.
16And so it goes on.
Publication Start Year
1929
Publication Notes
See Roberts A47.
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 2000.
Form