| Jessie B. Rittenhouse, ed. (1869–1948). The Second Book of Modern Verse. 1922. |
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| The Lover envies an Old Man |
| | | Shaemas O Sheel |
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| I ENVY the feeble old man | |
| Dozing there in the sun. | |
| When all you can do is done | |
| And life is a shattered plan, | |
| What is there better than | 5 |
| Dozing in the sun? | |
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| I could grow very still | |
| Like an old stone on a hill | |
| And content me with the one | |
| Thing that is ever kind, | 10 |
| The tender sun. | |
| I could grow deaf and blind | |
| And never hear her voice, | |
| Nor think I could rejoice | |
| With her in any place; | 15 |
| And I could forget her face, | |
| And love only the sun. | |
| Because when we are tired, | |
| Very very tired, | |
| And cannot again be fired | 20 |
| By any hope, | |
| The sun is so comforting! | |
| A little bird under the wing | |
| Of its mother, is not so warm. | |
| Give me only the scope | 25 |
| Of an old chair | |
| Out in the air, | |
| Let me rest there, | |
| Moving not, | |
| Loving not, | 30 |
| Only dozing my days till my days be done, | |
| Under the sun. | |
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