Poems and Ballads (second series)/A Wasted Vigil

by Algernon Charles Swinburne

A WASTED VIGIL.

I.

Couldst thou not watch with me one hour? Behold,

Dawn skims the sea with flying feet of gold,
With sudden feet that graze the gradual sea;
Couldst thou not watch with me?

II.

What, not one hour? for star by star the night

Falls, and her thousands world by world take flight;
They die, and day survives, and what of thee?
Couldst thou not watch with me?

III.

Lo, far in heaven the web of night undone,

And on the sudden sea the gradual sun;

Wave to wave answers, tree responds to tree;
Couldst thou not watch with me?

IV.

Sunbeam by sunbeam creeps from line to line,

Foam by foam quickens on the brightening brine;
Sail by sail passes, flower by flower gets free;
Couldst thou not watch with me?

V.

Last year, a brief while since, an age ago,

A whole year past, with bud and bloom and snow,
O moon that wast in heaven, what friends were we!
Couldst thou not watch with me?

VI.

Old moons, and last year's flowers, and last year's snows

Who now saith to thee, moon? or who saith, rose?
O dust and ashes, once found fair to see!
Couldst thou not watch with me?

VII.

O dust and ashes, once thought sweet to smell!

With me it is not, is it with thee well?
O sea-drift blown from windward back to lee!
Couldst thou not watch with me?

VIII.

The old year's dead hands are full of their dead flowers,

The old days are full of dead old loves of ours,
Born as a rose, and briefer born than she;
Couldst thou not watch with me?

IX.

Could two days live again of that dead year,

One would say, seeking us and passing here,
Where is she? and one answering, Where is he?
Couldst thou not watch with me?

X.

Nay, those two lovers are not anywhere;

If we were they, none knows us what we were,
Nor aught of all their barren grief and glee.
Couldst thou not watch with me?

XI.

Half false, half fair, all feeble, be my verse

Upon thee not for blessing nor for curse;
For some must stand, and some must fall or flee;
Couldst thou not watch with me?

XII.

As a new moon above spent stars thou wast;

But stars endure after the moon is past.
Couldst thou not watch one hour, though I watch three?
Couldst thou not watch with me?

XIII.

What of the night? The night is full, the tide

Storms inland, the most ancient rocks divide;
Yet some endure, and bow nor head nor knee;
Couldst thou not watch with me?

XIV.

Since thou art not as these are, go thy ways;

Thou hast no part in all my nights and days.
Lie still, sleep on, be glad—as such things be;
Thou couldst not watch with me.

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