The Heart’s Toys

Hearts of mine, now youth is over,
Why be playing Still at lover?
Comrade, there's no use protesting,
Love at forty is but jesting.
Though the same the eternal game is,
Love at twenty not the same is.
Hearts to play with there are plenty
When the heart's at one and twenty,
But if one and forty chooses,
Who consents and who refuses?
Heart of mine, lay down the playthings
As in childhood we would lay things
When our fancies had outgrown them,
And desert them and disown them.
Yet as children from their play-hours
Save and store for workaday hours
Doll or toy they used to care for,
Heart of mine, shall we not spare for
Days when scarcely we'll remember
Dancing April in December,
One heart's toy, as Meg and Moll do?
What if we should save one doll too?