Youth in Age
Meredith, George (1828-1909)

Once I was part of the music I heard
  On the boughs or sweet between earth and sky.
  For joy of the beating of wings on high
My heart shot into the breast of the bird.

I hear it now and I see it fly,
  And a life in wrinkles again is stirred,
  My heart shoots into the breast of the bird
As it will for sheer love till the last long sigh.

---

quoted in his review of "Last Poems" by Meredith
Rupert Brooke, "The Cambridge Review, 18 November 1909
reprinted in Timothy RogersÕ ÒRupert Brooke: a reappraisal and selectionÓ