I miss the wilds of young manhood

Of impassioned thrusts the rapier’s ring

Cheating death in all likelihood 

Laughing at a perilous close near thing 

Fear a draught chugged down with glee

Adventure harking as a bugle call 

Swinging from precarious branch to tree

Plunging and smarting from the fall

Only to get up and try once more

Strength always there in infinite measure

No challenge left untried no score

Ever marked not in my favour 

Now I teach these wild young men

fencing  as art but not survival 

In the hope that they will one day ken

A hint of a life so much more vital