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By Jack Joseph Smith

When he was you this old man LiKE thought that We all see the Earth now And as old as talk Truth stands in one place Laugh as one will "truth is that which is so" And if you want to direct your fist or your brain at it, it isn't inbetween Living MAKE A POINT WE KNOW That dosen't get it, you can work at it, And EVEN fail in LOVE But if you want to stay young as you are, NEVER had understand that youth has inclusion Excepting song writers and poets When they begin and end at the same place And of course manual typewriters All of which Are made of mistakes

Original Scan

Page 308

AI Interpretation

GPT

An old man's thought about youth, truth, poets, failure in LOVE, and manual typewriters turns mistakes into the very condition of staying young.

Truth stands in one place, the poem says, but reaching it still requires effort from fist or brain, as if conviction alone never settles the matter. The added possibility of failing in LOVE makes the lesson less abstract and more bodily. Youth is treated as something exclusive and difficult to keep, except in song writers, poets, and manual typewriters; that last comparison is exact and funny, because typewriters preserve youth not by purity but by error.


Claude

The old-man-was-you reflection: truth stands in one place, 'truth is that wrong is so.' Youth has an inclusion, 'excepting song writers and poets / When they begin and end at the same place / And of course manual typewriters / All of which / Are made of mistakes.'