Young

Youth is not a period of life,

it is a state of mind, an effect of the will,

a quality of imagination, an emotional intensity,

a victory of courage over shyness,

a victory of the taste for adventure over the love of comfort.

One does not become old by having

lived a certain number of years ;

one becomes old because one has deserted one's ideal.

The years wrinkle the skin; 

renouncing one's ideal wrinkles the soul.

Concerns, doubts, fears and despairs

are the enemies that slowly make us lean toward the earth

and become dust before death.

Young is who is astonished and marveled. 

He asks, like the insatiable child. And then?

He defies events and finds joy in the life.

You are as young as your faith. As old as you doubt.

As young as you have confidence in yourself,

as young as you hope. 

You will remain young as long as you are receptive.

Receptive to what is beautiful, good and great.

Receptive to the messages of nature.

If one day your heart were to be bitten

by pessimism and gnawed by cynicism,

may you certainly have an old soul.