DEAR friends, stay! Lamplit wafts of wit keep sorrow In the purlieus of to-morrow: Dear friends, stay! Haste not away! Even now may Time be weaving Tricks of ravage, wrack, bereaving, Haste not away! Through the pane, Lurking along the street, there may be Heartwrings, keeping hid till day be, Through the pane. Check their reign: Since while here we are the masters, And can barricade dim disasters: Check their reign! Give no ear To those ghosts withoutside mumming, Mouthing, threatening, "We are coming!" Give no ear! Sheltered here Care we not that next day bring us Pains, perversions! No racks wring us Sheltered here. Homeward gone, Sleep will slay this merrymaking; No resuming it at waking, Homeward gone. After dawn Something sad may be befalling; Mood like ours there's no recalling After dawn! Morrow-day Present joy that moments strengthen May be past our power to lengthen, Morrow-day! Dear friends, stay! Lamplit wafts of wit keep sorrow In the limbo of to-morrow; Dear friends, stay! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HIDE AND SEEK by SARA TEASDALE TO GIOVANNI DA PISTOIA ON THE PAINTING OF THE SISTINE CHAPEL, 1509 by MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI REUBEN BRIGHT by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON THE BONNIE LASS OF ALBANY by ROBERT BURNS TO CAPTAIN RIDDEL ON RETURNING A NEWSPAPER by ROBERT BURNS TO A BANK OF ENGLAND PIGEON by PATRICK REGINALD CHALMERS |