If I live to grow old, as I find I go down,
Let this be my fate in a country town;
May I have a warm house, with a stone at my gate,
And a cleanly young girl to rub my bald pate.
May I govern my passions with an absolute sway,
Grow wiser and better as my strength wears away,
Without gout or stone, by a gentle decay.
- Walter Pope, The Old Man's Wish,
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He calls his wish, it comes; he sends it back,
And says he called another; that arrives,
read more
He calls his wish, it comes; he sends it back,
And says he called another; that arrives,
Meets the same welcome; yet he still calls on;
Till one calls him, who varies not his call,
But holds him fast, in chains of darkness bound,
Till Nature dies, and judgment sets him free;
A freedom far less welcome than this chain.
I wish they would only take me as I am.
I wish they would only take me as I am.
We cannot wish for that we know not.
[Fr., On ne peut desirer ce qu'on ne connait pas.]
We cannot wish for that we know not.
[Fr., On ne peut desirer ce qu'on ne connait pas.]
I've often wished that I had clear,
For life, six hundred pounds a year,
A handsome house read more
I've often wished that I had clear,
For life, six hundred pounds a year,
A handsome house to lodge a friend,
A river at my garden's end,
A terrace walk, and half a rood
Of land, set out to plant a wood.
You pursue, I fly; you fly, I pursue; such is my humor. What you
wish, Dondymus, I do not read more
You pursue, I fly; you fly, I pursue; such is my humor. What you
wish, Dondymus, I do not wish, what you do not wish, I do.
I wish I knew the good of wishing.
I wish I knew the good of wishing.
You have wished it so, you have wished it so, George Dandin, you
have wished it so.
[Fr., read more
You have wished it so, you have wished it so, George Dandin, you
have wished it so.
[Fr., Vous l'avez voulu, vous l'avez voulu, George Dandin, vous
l'avez voulu.]
Wishing, of all employments is the worst.
Wishing, of all employments is the worst.
O, that I were where I would be,
Then would I be where I am not;
For read more
O, that I were where I would be,
Then would I be where I am not;
For where I am I would not be,
And where I would be I can not.
