The Collected Poems of William H. Davies/Man

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MAN

I saw Time running by—Stop, Thief, was all the cry.I heard a voice say, Peace!Let this vain clamour cease.Can ye bring lightning backThat leaves upon its trackMen, horses, oak trees dead?Canst bring back Time? it said.There’s nothing in Man’s mindCan catch Time up behind;In front of that fast ThiefThere’s no one—end this grief.Tut, what is Man? How frail!A grain, a little nail,The wind, a change of cloth—A fly can give him death.Some fishes in the seaAre born to outlive thee,And owls, and toads, and trees—And is Man more than these?I see Man’s face in all ​Things, be they great or small;I see the face of himIn things that fly or swim;One fate for all, I see—Whatever that may be.Imagination fitsLife to a day; though itsLength were a thousand years,’Twould not decrease our fears;What strikes men cold and dumbIs that Death’s time must come.
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