Our Poet Laureate

If Toby Keith’s “Don’t Let The Old Man In” is the anthem of the Don’t Let The Old Man In movement, then Dylan Thomas is its Poet Laureate.  Dylan Thomas was a Welsh Poet (1914-1953) who is probably best known for his poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.”  

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night                               

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, 

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my Father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

***

Wow, couldn’t have said it better myself. This is clearly a poem about an active resistance to old age, and ultimately, death. 

If you really want to impress your friends and seem like a real intellectual, memorize the first stanza:

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

May we rage!