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HEAVEN FORBID!
When I was seventeen, you'd find
No youth so brash as I;
Things must be settled to my mind,
Or I'd know why!
I knew it all, and somewhat more,
What I believed was true;
The future held no task in store
I could not do!
If I had died in my youthful pride—
And no man can say when—
Should I have been immortal
As I was then? (Heaven forbid!)
When I was forty-two I stood
Successful, proud and strong;
Little I cared for bad or good—
My purse was long.
My breakfast, newspaper and train,—
My office,—the Exchange—
My work, my pleasure, and my gain—
A narrow range.
If I had died in my business pride—
And no man can say when—
Should I have been immortal
As I was then? (Heaven forbid!)
Now I am old, and yet I keep
Intelligent content;
I wake and sleep in the quiet deep
Of disillusionment.
I don't believe, nor disbelieve—
I simply do not know.
I fear no grave—no heaven crave—
Am quite prepared to go.
But when I die—and I would not stay,
Though a friend should show me how,
Shall I become immortal,
As I am now? (Heaven forbid!)
Previous: PRIZE CHILDREN
Next: WHAT DIANTHA DID