An Old Man’s Winter Night


ALL out of doors looked darkly in at him
Through the thin frost, almost in separate stars,
That gathers on the pane in empty rooms.
What kept his eyes from giving back the gaze
Was the lamp tilted near them in his hand. 5
What kept him from remembering what it was
That brought him to that creaking room was age.
He stood with barrels round him—at a loss.
And having scared the cellar under him
In clomping there, he scared it once again 10
In clomping off;—and scared the outer night,
Which has its sounds, familiar, like the roar
Of trees and crack of branches, common things,
But nothing so like beating on a box.
A light he was to no one but himself 15
Where now he sat, concerned with he knew what,
A quiet light, and then not even that.
He consigned to the moon, such as she was,
So late-arising, to the broken moon
As better than the sun in any case 20
For such a charge, his snow upon the roof,
His icicles along the wall to keep;
And slept. The log that shifted with a jolt
Once in the stove, disturbed him and he shifted,
And eased his heavy breathing, but still slept. 25
One aged man—one man—can’t fill a house,
A farm, a countryside, or if he can,
It’s thus he does it of a winter night.

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I choose this poem, it fits me perfectly

Are you trying to tell us that you're an old man? :p

always felt old in an inner sense, and at my tender age of 23 I feel old from experience due to the many things I've seen and been through and so I suppose ironically it is something I relate to more easily than being young

I've always seemed to associate better with a slightly older crowd, though I must admit college cured me of that pretty well. Now, I still prefer a more mature crowd, but can romp with the rest of 'em just the same. :p

I can't wait to hear more about what you intend to do with the piece.

(Oh, and check your messages...)

RA, i felt that too, although in fact i am and in fact you're not. looking at your Brahms avatar making me think you actually look like that... how sad!

thanks for helping me out me in planing and gathering ideas, and i look forward to hearing yours...

how old are you signa if you don't mind my asking, for some reason I always thought you were my age for some reason. I seem to think you said somethin like that once a long time ago but I'm probably mistaken..

(sorry, irrelevant, deleted)