The Aged Lover Renounceth Love

{ January 20, 2008 @ 1:36 am } · { Inflections }

by Thomas Lord Vaux

I loathe that I did love, 
In youth that I thought sweet; 
 As time requires for my behove, 
Me thinks they are not meet. 
My lusts they do me leave, 
My fancies all be fled, 
And tract of time begins to weave 
Gray hairs upon my head. 
For age, with stealing steps, 
Hath clawed me with his crutch, 
 And lusty life away she leaps 
As there had been none such. 
My muse doth not delight 
Me as she did before, 
My hand and pen are not in plight 
As they have been of yore. 
For reason me denies 
This youthly idle rhyme, 
And day by day to me she cries, 
Leave off these toys in time. 
The wrinkles in my brow, 
The furrows in my face, 
Say limping age will hedge him now 
Where youth must give him place. 
The harbinger of death, 
To me I see him ride; 
The cough, the cold, the gasping breath, 
Doth bid me to provide 
A pickaxe and a spade, 
And eke a shrouding sheet; 
A house of clay for to be made 
For such a guest most meet. 
Me thinks I hear the clerk 
That knolls the careful knell, 
 And bids me leave my woeful work 
Ere nature me compel. 
My keepers knit the knot 
That youth did laugh to scorn, 
Of me that clean shall be forgot 
As I had not been born. 
 Thus must I youth give up, 
Whose badge I long did wear; 
To them I yield the wanton cup 
That better may it bear. 
Lo, here the bared skull 
By whose bald sign I know 
That stooping age away shall pull 
Which youthful years did sow. 
For beauty, with her band,

These crooked cares hath wrought,

And shipped me into the land 
From whence I first was brought.

And ye that bide behind, 
Have ye none other trust;

As ye of clay were cast by kind, 
So shall ye waste to dust. 
 

DAY 1:

When I skimmed through the lines of the poem, I was amazed for its length and at the back of my mind I presumed that it’ll be hard for me to interpret some of the lines or the thoughts that the speaker wanted to convey. It’s a lengthy poem with so much in it; however what I noticed is that, the speaker talking here is a man- a man with his complaints about getting old in connection to love. I like the rhyme scheme of the poem, it adds to the mood most especially to readers like me who values tone, rhythm and melody that the line creates. In the first 7 lines of the poem the persona tells something about love and him getting old. He says that he loathe that he experienced loving a person that he thought the act of loving is sweet but he tells it’s the contrary. I felt like the persona talks about his wanting to love someone but that someone couldn’t love him in return and up until his aged situation pains him.

To put it in poetry,

Birds fly searching the horizon,

In each of the meadows they sing with awe

But an aged man sits not in unison

For that’s how nature’s law manifests flaw.

DAY 2:

Being old requires a lot of patience. Most of the people who are in their 50s usually lose patience and persistence and with that it caused them a lot of troubles, really. The persona here believes that aging eats him slowly, invades each of the nerves and veins inside his fragile body. Getting more mature- wrinkled face, being weak and stuff like that make his life more miserable. If one gets s old he becomes incapable of doing some things, as it is indicative of the life stages that one might experience. For the persona, age devoured him- clawed me his crutch and lusty life she leaps.

To put it in poetry,

The vulture seeks for its victim-creeping silently at night,

With the moon’s facade-flock of birds passing

Danger, nothing devoid of light

One breath, one stigma- hissing.

DAY 3:

He says that he should unclasp the youth in him, thus must I youth give up, whose badge I long did wear. As we can see here, the ephemeral nature of life takes place. Nothing is permanent in this earth, all things changes-variation usually occurs and so with getting old. Time affects our stay here on earth, in just a click of a second things change- colors become monochromatic and in a snap it becomes colorful. However, with this drastic change that we encounter one should accept wholeheartedly the consequences of how it is to live. Just as how the persona takes it, we should be as reflective as him, though it is hard for him to accept that he is fading he still has a touch of being human in him that no matter how bitter things are it’ll just fade away and vanish in the end. Disclaimer: I don’t think I conform to what really the speaker says, it’s just me anyway, I make my own interpretation and feeling about the poem-perhaps, I need not worry for its real “intention”.

DAY 4:

How does it feel to be old, is it really scary or its just me being so cynical? I don’t think so. I’ve heard complaints from several people I met on travel, meetings, etc. that getting old is one of their fears. I just don’t know why, perhaps it’s because of the changes that one encounters with getting old, physical, emotional, etc.

DAY 5:

Thoughts:

Love is not equal to maturity since love if real is unconditional.

Emotion doesn’t change only the attitude of the people involved

One knows how to love if he knows what sacrifice means

Cliché: Love isn’t ephemeral and age doesn’t really matter when it comes o love- to feel that it’s already the right time…

DAY 6:

Tired. Exhausted-In pain

Exits- border lines and boundaries

No swerving of path no changing of lane

Live no more- nothing to pursue with this hollow sanctuaries.

DAY 7:

I guess I need to end this just as how the speaker of the poem concluded his misery.