Young & old

Composer's note: "In 2014, I was Director of Music of a wonderful church, the Unitarian Universalist Congregational Society in Westborough, Massachusetts (during the pastorate of the Rev. J. Mark Worth). The U.U. church eschews Christocentric music, so the musician is always on the lookout for usable texts. The U.U. hymnal contains the hymn 'Seek not afar for beauty', with lyrics by the Rev. Dr. Minot Judson Savage (1841-1918). I was intrigued by it and wondered what else Savage wrote. Lo and behold, I discovered a collection of poetry, entitled simply 'Poems', published in 1882. The poems were all wonderful, but 'Young and old' jumped out at me. There was literally no mention of it anywhere on the Internet. It was hard to believe that such a wonderful poem could be so unknown. I hope that Savage’s poetry someday enjoys the rediscovery which it so richly deserves."