THE OLD MANS DREAMS For one hour of joyful youth!
Give back my twentieth spring!
I’d rather laugh a bright-haired boy,
Than reign a gray-beard king!

Off with the wrinkled spoils of age!
Away with learning’s crown!
Tear out life’s wisdom-written page,
And dash its trophies down!

One moment let my life-blood stream
From boyhood’s fount of fame!
Give me one giddy, reeling dream
Of life, all love and flame!

My listening angel heard the prayer,
And, calmly smiling, said,
“If I but touch thy silvered hair,
Thy hasty wish hath sped.”

“But is there nothing in thy track
To bid thee fondly stay,
While the swift seasons hurry back
To find the wished-for day?”

Ah, truest soul of womanhood!
Without thee what were life?
One bliss I cannot leave behind:
I’ll take—my—precious—wife!

The angel took a sapphire pen
And wrote in rainbow dew,
“The man would be a boy again,
And be a husband too!”

“And is there nothing yet unsaid,
Before the change appears?
Remember, all their gifts have fled
With those dissolving years!”
Why, yes; for memory would recall
My fond paternal joys;
I could not bear to leave them all:
I’ll take –my—girl—and—boys!

The smiling angel dropped his pen—
“Why, this will never do;
The man would be a boy again,
And be a father too!”

And so I laughed—my laughter woke
The household with its noise—
And wrote my dream when morning broke
To please the gray-haired boys
What is new or different about the poet’s allusion and use of an angel as a character in the poem?

Answer choices for the above question

Angels are not commonly described as hearing and responding to prayers.

Angels are not commonly represented as smiling with kindness.

Angels do not usually ask questions before they grant wishes expressed through prayer.

Angels do not usually smile when they are referenced in religious literature.