Poems (Jordan)/Detached

by Rebecca Queen Jordan

DETACHED

Time's luscious fruits have riped o'erlate
 For my heart to appreciate,
And things I once craved, hungrily,
 Have tasteless since, become to me.
Tasteless, not bitter,—glad am I,
 My heart, unfretted by delay
Sees others' ever close supply,
 Nor mourns its own void Yesterday.

I craved, so much, the boon of friends—
 For just one heart to understand;
But now, when one his own extends,
 He clasps, perhaps, a stronger hand.
I asked in vain one sip of wine—
 Unmixed—from Youth's capacious cup;
Ungiven then, should I repine,
 Who drink the cellared stores of Hope?

Unenvyingly, today, I look
 On others surfeited with joys,
With heart a-smile, as one forsook
 Of all—save that which never cloys!
I see friends lovingly entwine
 Each other's hearts, confidingly;—
Desire stirs not this heart of mine,—
 God's peace is closer still, to me.

'Tis not that I have callous grown,
 But only that,—so long denied,—
With things I ne'er could call my own
 My longings are unoccupied.
Unparched by Life's fierce fev'rishness;
 Undazed by its delirium;
My heart regards with restfulness,
 The present; past and the to come.

Denial's hands have made the room
 For richer blessings else unsent,
Amid the which, in Autumn bloom,
 The fadeless flower of Content.
Yet as I watch the falling years—
 Like leaves from unresisting tree—
I do rejoice, as Heaven nears,
 God holds that—through the night—for me!