‘When You Are Old’ presents the moral dilemma faced by a sincere lover. The speaker/narrator is the sincere lover and his lady love is the one who is going to make a decision. The lady has attracted many suitors including the speaker. The speaker believes that the other suitors only love her physical charms, and not all of them are sincere in their love towards her. He means to say that they are fickle-minded and once she loses her charms they will desert her. On the other hand, he believes that he loves her truly and according to him true love is the love of the inner self and has a spiritual aspect in it. But, the lady has not responded to his love.

He feels frustrated and as a last attempt, he tries to tell her the reality. He wants her to realize that physical beauty is transient and love of the fickle-minded will also be transient. He wants to assure her that only his love will be stable and if she ignores him and makes a wrong decision she will regret it later. Thus the speaker tries to persuade his lover to make the right decision and receive his love, which is true and intense.