Alas and alack! Dreadful and oppressive are the inescapable realities of becoming older and being a lovelorn bachelor after my spring and youthful prime.

————

I mourn for the death of my erstwhile youth,

a time of innocence and naive bliss

which hid from me life's dark, unpleasant truth,

but for ever holds all the joys I miss;

a time of mannish beauty, brawn and thews,

as of a Greek god in his peerless prime

like Heracles of fabled strength, sinews

and might that's of renown from mythic time.

But, O Desire!...how do I most long for

your renewal (in my now loveless life)

of me and for the fair virgins of folklore

whose maidenhood can quench my lustful strife!

Now in the fall of my increasing years,

I have lost love and youth as old age nears.

By Ngoc Nguyen

From: United States