A LITTLE while to walk with thee, dear child; To lean on thee my weak and weary head; Then evening comes: the winter sky is wild, The leafless trees are black, the leaves long dead. A little while to hold thee and to stand, By harvest-fields of bending golden corn; Then the predestined silence, and thine hand, Lost in the night, long and weary and forlorn. A little while to love thee, scarcely time To love thee well enough; then time to part, To fare through wintry fields alone and climb The frozen hills, not knowing where thou art. Short summer-time and then, my heart's desire, The winter and the darkness: one by one The roses fall, the pale roses expire Beneath the slow decadence of the sun. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LISTENERS by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE UPON HIS DEPARTURE HENCE by ROBERT HERRICK TIME TO BE WISE by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR THE OTHER WORLD by HARRIET BEECHER STOWE A ROW IN AN OMNIBUS BOX; A LEGEND OF THE HAYMARKET by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM ON THE PRAIRIE by HERBERT BATES |