To A. J. H.
Time and the Earth -
The old Father and Mother -
Their teeming accomplished, Their purpose fulfilled, Close with a smile For a moment of kindness, Ere for the winter They settle to sleep.
Failing yet gracious, Slow pacing, soon homing, A patriarch that strolls Through the tents of his children, The Sun, as he journeys His round on the lower Ascents of the blue, Washes the roofs And the hillsides with clarity;
Charms the dark pools Till they break into pictures;
Scatters magnificent Alms to the beggar trees;
Touches the mist-folk, That crowd to his escort, Into translucencies Radiant and ravishing:
As with the visible Spirit of Summer Gloriously vaporised, Visioned in gold!
Love, though the fallen leaf Mark, and the fleeting light And the loud, loitering Footfall of darkness Sign to the heart Of the passage of destiny, Here is the ghost Of a summer that lived for us, Here is a promise Of summers to be.
