{"id":1716,"date":"2008-10-20T22:27:55","date_gmt":"2008-10-21T02:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/?p=1716"},"modified":"2008-10-20T22:27:55","modified_gmt":"2008-10-21T02:27:55","slug":"my-thought-for-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/20\/my-thought-for-the-day\/","title":{"rendered":"My thought for the day"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are things I miss, but not enough to pay the price for having them. <\/p>\n

“The Old Man Dreams”<\/p>\n

Oh for one hour of youthful joy!
\nGive back my twentieth spring!
\nI’d rather laugh, a bright-haired boy,
\nThan reign, a gray-beard king.<\/p>\n

Off with the spoils of wrinkled age!
\nAway with Learning’s crown!
\nTear out life’s Wisdom-written page,
\nAnd dash its trophies down!<\/p>\n

One moment let my life-blood stream
\nFrom boyhood’s fount of flame!
\nGive me one giddy, reeling dream
\nOf life all love and fame!<\/p>\n

My listening angel heard the prayer,
\nAnd, calmly smiling, said,
\n“If I but touch thy silvered hair,
\nThy hasty wish hath sped.<\/p>\n

“But is there nothing in thy track
\nTo bid thee fondly stay,
\nWhile the swift seasons hurry back
\nTo find the wished-for day?”<\/p>\n

“Ah, truest soul of womankind!
\nWithout thee what were life?
\nOne bliss I cannot leave behind:
\nI’ll take–my-precious-wife!”<\/p>\n

The angel took a sapphire pen
\nAnd wrote in rainbow dew,
\nThe man would be a boy again,
\nAnd be a husband, too!<\/p>\n

“And is there nothing yet unsaid,
\nBefore the change appears?
\nRemember, all their gifts have fled
\nWith those dissolving years.”<\/p>\n

“Why, yes;” for memory would recall
\nMy fond paternal joys;
\n“I could not bear to leave them all –
\nI’ll take–my-girl-and-boys.”<\/p>\n

The smiling angel dropped his pen, –
\n“Why, this will never do;
\nThe man would be a boy again,
\nAnd be a father, too!”<\/p>\n

And so I laughed,–my laughter woke
\nThe household with its noise, –
\nAnd wrote my dream, when morning broke,
\nTo please the gray-haired boys. <\/p>\n

—Oliver Wendell Holmes<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If only he had worked in baldness rather than “gray” hair, it’d be a direct hit. With the hair stuff in though, I guess the Deacon’s Masterpiece<\/a> gets to keep the title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are things I miss, but not enough to pay the price for having them. “The Old Man Dreams” Oh for one hour of youthful joy! Give back my twentieth spring! I’d rather laugh, a bright-haired boy, Than reign, a gray-beard king. Off with the spoils of wrinkled age! Away with Learning’s crown! Tear out life’s Wisdom-written page, And dash… Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[101,111,194,102],"class_list":["post-1716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-storytime","tag-aging","tag-parenting","tag-poem","tag-wisdom","xfolkentry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5UQvw-rG","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1716"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1719,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1716\/revisions\/1719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}