Retirement In youth I served my time To kissing and love-making; Now that I must retire I feel my heart is breaking. Love’s a great trade indeed; I have loved and cannot doubt it. That I should live is strange For life’s a waste without it— And memory makes a torment Of all my past blisses— Ah, God, ah God! ’tis food today That feeds me and not kisses. Source: O'Connor, Frank (tr); Kings, Lords, & Commons: An Anthology from the Irish; 1962; London; Macmillan & Co; p.61