Poems (Henley)/Time and the Earth

by William Ernest Henley

VIII To A. J. H.

Time and the Earth—The old Father and Mother—Their teeming accomplished,Their purpose fulfilled,Close with a smileFor a moment of kindness,Ere for the winterThey settle to sleep.

Failing yet gracious,Slow pacing, soon homing,A patriarch that strollsThrough the tents of his children,The Sun, as he journeysHis round on the lowerAscents of the blue,Washes the roofs And the hillsides with clarity;Charms the dark poolsTill they break into pictures;Scatters magnificentAlms to the beggar trees;Touches the mist-folk,That crowd to his escort,Into translucenciesRadiant and ravishing:As with the visibleSpirit of SummerGloriously vaporised,Visioned in gold!

Love, though the fallen leafMark, and the fleeting lightAnd the loud, loiteringFootfall of darknessSign to the heartOf the passage of destiny,Here is the ghostOf a summer that lived for us,Here is a promiseOf summers to be.