Classic Poem

A VARIATION ON RONSARD

Time goes, you say? Ah no!
Alas, Time stays, we go;
— — Or else, were this not so,
What need to chain the hours,
For Youth were always ours?
— — Time goes, you say? — ah no!

Ours is the eyes' deceit
Of men whose flying feet
— — Lead through some landscape low;
We pass, and think we see
The earth's fixed surface flee: —
— — Alas, Time stays — we go!

Once in the days of old,
Your locks were curling gold,
— — And mine had shamed the crow.
Now, in the self-same stage,
We've reached the silver age;
— — Time goes, you say? — ah no!

Once, when my voice was strong,
I filled the woods with song
— — To praise your " rose " and " snow " ,
My bird, that sang, is dead;
Where are your roses fled?
— — Alas, Time stays — we go!

See, in what traversed ways,
What backward Fate delays
— — The hopes we used to know;
Where are our old desires? —
Ah, where those vanished fires?
— — Time goes, you say? — ah no!

How far, how far, O Sweet,
The past behind our feet
— — Lies in the even-glow!
Now, on the forward way,
Let us fold hands, and pray;
— — Alas, Time stays, — we go!