Read "To a Young Lady on Her Birthday" by Bliss Carman online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
The marching years go by / And brush your garment's hem. / The bandits by and by / Will bid you go with them.
Trust not that caravan! / Old vagabonds are they; / They'll rob you if they can, / And make believe it's play.
Make the old robbers give / Of all the spoils they bear, -- / Their truth, to help you live, -- / Their joy, to keep you fair.
Ask not for gauds nor gold, / Nor fame that falsely rings; / The foolish world grows old / Caring for all these things.
Make all your sweet demands / For happiness alone, / And the years will fill your hands / With treasures rarely known.