Near Dimensions: A Man from My Country

"Leave them to their ignorance. What of it, then, if a few white hairs have made of your head their strolling-ground?...

"And if you have found none — do not turn up your nose should one come strutting by in pride. Has it not the right?...

"I am no mark of old age. I am, I tell you, rather a very foundation of wisdom.

"Why do you grow angry with me, and long to pluck me out whenever my shadow appears to you? Is what you have not enough for you?!!

"Is it not enough for you that green waves of hope still shimmer in your eyes?... And the smiling mouth — is it not a blessing to give thanks for!!... Has the beating heart not remained as it was — so why the worry!!...

"Is it not enough for you that she — she — loves to take your head between her hands and toy with me? How the rapture takes you when her lips slip from me down to your brow and then to your eyes. What warmth lies in them when they meet two others!! Do you not lift your gaze in thanks at such a moment??

"What do you care if they accuse you of playing the youth, so long as she, the young one, delights in your youth.

"Lift from yourself the weight of your misery over me, for your heart is still light, and loves"...