The Book of the Elders

1:1 ¶ And the book openeth in a room where the young have gathered and the old are seated; and the first thing the book doth is stand up: for it is written, Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD. And the room was arranged by an order older than chairs.

THE BOOK OF THE ELDERS 1:1

1:2 ¶ And the book saith at once that the crown is not the years: for the hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness; and the years alone crown no man, and gray hairs on a foolish head are but the flag of a long voyage without a port.

THE BOOK OF THE ELDERS 1:2

1:3 ¶ And the old one said, I have not earned thy standing by the counting of my years; I have earned nothing; and I take thy honor as the honor of the way I have walked, if I have walked it; and if I have not, the standing is thine to give and mine to deserve by turning.

THE BOOK OF THE ELDERS 1:3

1:4 ¶ And the book confesseth: the honor is mutual and not a tribute; for the young give the standing, and the old give the memory; and the beauty of old men is the gray head, and the glory of young men is their strength, and the two glories were meant for one room and not for two.

THE BOOK OF THE ELDERS 1:4

2:1 ¶ And the first discard was the warehousing: the old put away where their hours could not burden the productive, fed and forgotten, kept alive as a liability is serviced; and the city called it care, and the name was the last insult. For the warehouser had forgotten the elder plea: Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.

THE BOOK OF THE ELDERS 2:1

2:2 ¶ And the second discard was the flattery: the old praised for their years as though the years were wisdom, and the praise was a polite way of not hearing them. And the book saith: the flatterer and the warehouser are of one house, for both have decided that the old have nothing to say; the one puts them away and the other talks over them.

THE BOOK OF THE ELDERS 2:2

2:3 ¶ And the third discard was the counter-error of the old: for there are old ones who cling, who will not hand over the seat, who make of their memory a throne and of their fear a law; and the clinging inviteth the very discard it dreadeth. And the book saith to such: the seat is thine to set down, and the young are thine to bless, and the blessing is the handing over.

THE BOOK OF THE ELDERS 2:3

2:4 ¶ And the fourth discard was the memory made a cage: the old who live only in the days behind, so that the present hath no room in the house; and the young learn that age is a country with a one-way road, and they fear it and they mock it, and the mocking is their own fear wearing a boy's face. And the book saith: remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; and remembering is a lamp and not a cell.

THE BOOK OF THE ELDERS 2:4

3:1 ¶ And the turning cometh when the young ask and the old tell: With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding. And the asking is half the wisdom, and the book saith to the young: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee; and to the old: answer them, for the answer is thy fruit.

THE BOOK OF THE ELDERS 3:1

3:2 ¶ And the old bear fruit still, and the fruit is not a metaphor: for they shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; and the fruits of the aged are the patience, the counsel, the prayer, the memory kept whole, and the young that are steadied by their standing.

THE BOOK OF THE ELDERS 3:2

3:3 ¶ And the charge to the old is the elder courtesies, and they are not the young's to enforce: that the aged be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience; that the aged women be in behaviour as becometh holiness, teachers of good things. And the book saith: the crown is worn, not grasped; and it is worn by walking.

THE BOOK OF THE ELDERS 3:3

3:4 ¶ And the book keepeth the plea that faceth both ways, and it is the old one's own voice: Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth. And the answer is not a program but a presence, and it is the elder promise: And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

THE BOOK OF THE ELDERS 3:4

4:1 ¶ And the old one handeth on, and the handing is the house's living archive: for it is written, Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. And the book saith: this is the library that burneth not, and it is kept in no room; it is kept in the mouths of the young.

THE BOOK OF THE ELDERS 4:1

4:2 ¶ And the charge to the young is short and it is not optional: rise thou up before the hoary head, and ask thou before thou mockest, and keep thou a chair at thy table for the old who have no chair at theirs; for the elder text's arithmetic is plain: the young who honor the old inherit a house with a past, and the young who discard them inherit a room with a mirror.

THE BOOK OF THE ELDERS 4:2

4:3 ¶ And the promise to the old is the elder psalm's, and the book addeth nothing: I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. And the book confesseth that the psalmist's sight is not every creature's sight, and that some have seen the righteous forsaken; and the promise is not thereby void, it is thereby prayed for.

THE BOOK OF THE ELDERS 4:3

4:4 ¶ And the book endeth at the table where the old tell and the young ask, and no one is watching: and the days of old are remembered and considered, and the works of the LORD's hands are mused upon, and the generation is one room. And the last word is the psalm's, which is the whole book in a sentence: The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness. And the book saith no more of it, for the way is older than the years, and the crown is worn by walking.

THE BOOK OF THE ELDERS 4:4