"SWEET! Sweet! Sweet!" sings the bird upon the bough. But though he may call for sweetness We have other things to witness, Not all cherry-pie and neatness, Now. "Mourn! Mourn! Mourn!" cry the owls among the vines. But it's neither death nor fleetness That have any utter fitness, Not a final joy or sorrow, As we press out wines. "Change! Slow change!" ticks the church clock through the snow. And somehow 'twixt winter's dying And spring apple-blossoms flying And the summer hops a-tying... It's now haughty and now humble Change! Slow change! And rough-and-tumble. Down to-day and up to-morrow That our songs sing now. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON SEEING THE ELGIN MARBLES by JOHN KEATS TO CHILDREN: 1. FAIRY SONG by WILLIAM ROSE BENET |