Because when all our passion is spent, we can recognize the world around us for what it is. We realize how "vain" we were in youth to boast of "fleeting things." When the money has dried up, the flashy car has broken down, and the moment of fame has quickly faded, we look to the horizon. The first stanza ends with a couplet that captures something of the strange riddling magic of our days--and our transition from early exuberance to later reflection. It poses profound questions that are not easily answered by any reader.
from Christopher Nield: The Epoch Times: The Antidote--Classic Poetry for Modern Life: A Reading of 'Old Age' by Edmund Waller
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