Painting  The Picture

When my hair is thin and silvered,
and my time of toil is through;
When I've many years behind me,
and ahead of me a few;

I shall want to sit, I reckon,
sort of dreaming in the sun;
And recall the roads I have traveled
and the many things I've done.

I hope there'll be no picture that
I will hate to look upon;
When the time to paint it better
or to wipe it out is gone.

I hope there'll be no vision
of a hasty word I've said
That has left a trail of sorrow,
like a whip welt sore and red

And I hope my old age dreaming
will bring back no bitter scene
Of a time when I was selfish,
or a time when I was mean.

When I'm getting old and feeble,
and I'm far along life's way
I don't want to sit regretting
any bygone yesterday.

I am painting now the picture
that I will want someday to see;
I am filling in a canvas that
will soon come back to me.

Though nothing great is on it,
and though nothing there is fine,
I shall want to look it over
when I am old,and call it mine.

So I do not dare to leave it
while the paint is warm and wet,
With a single thing upon it
that I later will regret !!!