Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TRANSITION, by RAYMOND R. WILLOUGHBY


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TRANSITION, by                    
First Line: Where'er we turn, the specter waits
Last Line: That all things work with joy, and sleep at close of day.
Subject(s): Children; Death; Flowers; Friendship; Gardens & Gardening; Childhood; Dead, The


WHERE'ER we turn, the specter waits—the ghost
Of what we were, the dream of what we are,
And, more than these, the warning from afar
Of what we yet may be; a summer's day, at most,
In which to know the eternal. What a cost
To pay for such brief sweetness! One short hour
Of childhood joys; then, scenes that change—and more:
Old friends that fade, like flowers, and then—the frost.

But all the while, the garden blooms; a bird
Sits in the sun, and pours his little heart
Into his deep, full song; God must have heard
My weak complainings, and have sent this part
Of this great universe of life, to say
That all things work with joy, and sleep at close of day.





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