Springs False and True
Poemata LVI
Hope is for us a light
If we walk a path that's right--
But if the path we walk is wrong
No hope could e'er be so strong
To save us from that certain day
When at last we get our way;
Is Spring for us a picture true
Or just a glass we're looking through?
Some false springs give rise to frost
And those who trust must pay the cost
Storms are strongest after March
Snows to freeze, winds to parch;
But what of winters with no end
Where no hope appears to send
A message cheering us to run
Commending that a task be done?
Where every thaw is froze again
What good work can we begin?
Some false stars do sometimes shine
And seem the turning moon a sign
Which moves in rhythm as a clock
A music that we cannot mock--
But baubles hold no news for us
Though immense and luminous;
We wait therefore for this alone--
Mayhap to them it will be known!
Not all life on earth revives--
Here on earth, no Spring survives;
Will not Eternally Return
When all that is will fin'ly burn.