“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