When young
Caution he flung
Away,
For he knew from the start,
In the secret recesses of his heart
They would not stay,
(The girls out for fun,
After whom he did run).

There is no disgrace
In the chase
He thought
But why court
When a sort
Of love is so easily bought?

They came and went.
His heart was rent
As money he spent
On an attachment
To a kind of detachment
Which led …

Now in old age
He does uselessly rage
At the phantoms who dance
In a parrady of romance
Upon the stage
Of his own creation.
His anticipation Has turned to dust
Aleviated only by occasional flowerings of lust.