“If I live to be old, for I find I go down,

Let this be my fate: In a country town

May I have a warm house with a stone at the gate,

And a cleanly young girl to rub my bald pate.

may I govern my passion with an absolute away,

And grow wiser and better as my strength wears away,

Without gout or stone, by a gentle decay.”

(The Old Man’s Wish by Walter Pope, 1627 – 1714)

John Lentell

21st October, 1969