1. Gray hair has come and split my head aflame
And fun and love for us is clearly lame

2. One stays put, no longer seeking our company
While the other we forbade is peripatetic and roams free

3. Far different are the two, though tricks be tried
That other's hated, but tricks can't turn the tide

4. One whose light and fragrance are still dear
Like a fresh garden graced by a rain shower

5. Whose welcome never falters, come what may
Of every trait or kinship worn away

6. Till even familiars grey hair renders strange
And former loves now find in him just change

7. The coat one day wears out, though stout and thick
And praise once sung trips steps now lunatic

8. See man, a butt of fate's incoming spears
Whose lifelong flow cannot be stemmed by years

9. If death takes early, easy paths unfold
If life meanders on, erstwhile crisps wrinkled fold

10. Until the writ of death has had its fill
Though years against it rear a stubbled hill

11. Nor can the world's whirling cycles spare
Alive, afraid or dead, valorous and daring

12. No cavern holds its mysteries below
No whale nor vale conceal its ebb and flow

13. But all things fade, their freshness turned to rot
And only God and deeds survive our lot