Aged man, with locks so hoary,

high estate dost thou possess!

They appear thy crown of glory

in the way of righteousness.

*

Jewels, not of man’s preparing,

form the shining diadem,

thou art from thy sovereign wearing:

God’s own finger silvered them.

*

Thine are honors, proved and heightened

by the gift of lengthened years;

in afliction’s furnace brightened,

tried by cares, and washed with tears.

*

Like thy Master, meek and lowly,

thou a thorny earth hast trod;

with thy breast a high and holy

temple of the living God.

*

Aged saint, thy form is bending,

sere and withered, to the tomb;

but thy spirit, upward tending,

budded for immortal bloom.

Hannah Flagg Gould.  EEUU (1789-1865)