The Collected Poems of William H. Davies/Now

​

NOW

When I was in yon town, and had Stones all round me, hard and cold,My flesh was firm, my sight was keen, And still I felt my heart grow old.
But now, with this green world around, By my great love for it! I swear,Though my flesh shrink, and my sight fail, My heart will not grow old with care.
When I do hear these joyful birds, I cannot sit with my heart dumb;I cannot walk among these flowers, But I must help the bees to hum.
My heart has echoes for all things, The wind, the rain, the bird and bee;’Tis I that—now—can carry Time, Who in that town must carry me.
​
I see not now the great coke fire With ten men seated there, or more,Like frogs on logs; and one man fall Dying across the boarded floor.
I see instead the flowers and clouds, I hear the rills, the birds and bees:The Squirrel flies before the storm He makes himself in leafy trees.
This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.