When You are Old (2010)

When you are old and gray and full of sleep
And rocking to and fro beside the fire,
Call up the ancient memories of desire
When you first took another's heart to keep.
How brightly they flame, those thoughts of elder days!
When love arrived and found you unprepared,
When you were young and passionate, and scared
To let your heart be fully set ablaze.
Now as the flames grow soft and low and tired,
Look over at the one you chose to wed,
So long ago, whom you did not deny;
Though he is not the one you once desired,
No matter,  I’ll ever stand by what I said,
When I prayed he love you even more than I.