I SAW him steal the light away That haunted in her eye: It went so gently none could say More than that it was there one day And missing by-and-by. I watched her longer, and he stole Her lily tincts and rose; All her young sprightliness of soul Next fell beneath his cold control, And disappeared like those. I asked: 'Why do you serve her so? Do you, for some glad day, Hoard these her sweets - ?' He said, 'O no, They charm not me; I bid Time throw Them carelessly away.' Said I: 'We call that cruelty - We, your poor mortal kind.' He mused. 'The thought is new to me. Forsooth, though I men's master be, Theirs is the teaching mind!' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EVENING IN ENGLAND by FRANCIS LEDWIDGE THE HAUNTED PALACE by EDGAR ALLAN POE THE MOURNER A LA MODE by JOHN GODFREY SAXE DISAPPOINTED by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS TO THE PRESIDENT OF MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES |