Explore "Lyrical and Miscellaneous Pieces" by Oliver Goldsmith on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
WHAT! no way left to shun th' inglorious stage, / And save from infamy my sinking age! / Scarce half alive, oppress'd with many a year, / What in the name of dotage drives me here? / A time there was, when glory was my guide, / Nor force nor fraud could turn my steps aside; / Unaw'd by pow'r, and unappall'd by fear, / With honest thrift I held my honour dear; / But this vile hour disperses all my store, / And all my hoard of honour is no more. / For ah! too partial to my life's decline, / Caesar persuades, submission must be mine; / Him I obey, whom heaven itself obeys, / Hopeless of pleasing, yet inclin'd to please. / Here then at once, I welcome every shame, / And cancel at threescore a life of fame; / No more my titles shall my children tell, / The old buffoon will fit my name as well; / This day beyond its term my fate extends, / For life is ended when our honour ends.