Poems (Freston)/A Broken Promise
A BROKEN PROMISE
See what you've done, mon cher ami!This porcelain, fine and rare, You have shattered into fragments, Heedless that it was fair.
Can you e'er collect the pieces Again, and fit them true? Never! though countless ages Were given unto you.
No chemist, no, nor alchemist, That bent alembic o'er, Hath ever found a cement sure To make it as before.
This precious vase of promise With the wine of faith was filled, And when you broke it, oh, my friend! That wine was rudely spilled.
A little thing? Ah, true indeed! A trifle dropped by Fate! But life's small things are its sweet things, And their power is often great.
They are stars to light the firmament Of Hope, when night is near, They are flowers to brighten pathways That would otherwise be drear.