Time To Be Wise

Yes; I write verses now and then, But blunt and flaccid is my pen, No longer talkd of by young men As rather clever; In the last quarter are my eyes, You see it by their form and size; Is it not time then to be wise? Or now or never. Fairest that ever sprang from Eve! While Time allows the short reprieve, Just look at me! would you believe T was once a lover? I cannot clear the five-bar gate; But, trying first its timbers state, Climb stiffly up, take breath, and wait To trundle over. Through gallopade I cannot swing The entangling blooms of Beautys spring: I cannot say the tender thing, Be t true or false, And am beginning to opine Those girls are only half divine Whose waists yon wicked boys entwine In giddy waltz. I fear that arm above that shoulder; I wish them wiser, graver, older, Sedater, and no harm if colder, And panting less. Ah! people were not half so wild In former days, when, starchly mild, Upon her high-heeld Essex smild The brave Queen Bess.