Poems (Piatt)/Volume 1/Sometime
For works with similar titles, see Sometime.
SOMETIME.
Well, either you or I, After whatever is to say is said,Must see the other die, Or hear, through distance, of the other dead,Sometime.
And you or I must hide Poor empty eyes and faces, wan and wetWith Life's great grief, beside The other's coffin, sealed with silence, yet,Sometime.
And you or I must look Into the other's grave, or far or near,And read, as in a book, Writ in the dust, words we made bitter here,Sometime.
Then, through what paths of dew, What flush of flowers, what glory in the grass,Only one of us two, Even as a shadow walking, blind may pass,Sometime!
And, if the nestling song Break from the bosom of the bird for love,No more to listen long One shall be deaf below, one deaf above,Sometime.
For both must lose the way Wherein we walk together, very soon:One in the dusk shall stay, The other first shall see the rising moon,Sometime.
Oh! fast, fast friend of mine! Lift up the voice I love so much, and warn;—To wring faint hands and pine, Tell me I may be left forlorn, forlorn,Sometime.
Say I may kiss through tears, For ever falling and for ever cold,One ribbon from sweet years, One dear dead leaf, one precious ring of gold,Sometime.
Say you may think with pain Of some slight grace, some timid wish to pleaseSome eager look half vain Into your heart, some broken sobs like these,Sometime!